System, method and computer program for a monitoring system

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a system, method, mobile communication device and one or more computer programs for a monitoring system. In one aspect, the system includes a plurality of transmitters, each transmitter having associated therewith a reflector antenna configured to substantially reflect signal transmission toward a detection area; and a mobile device configured to: receive transmitter signals from at least two transmitters from the plurality of transmitters; and determine that the mobile device is located within the detection area based on received signal strengths of the at least some of the transmitter signals.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority from Australian ProvisionalPatent Application No 2016903000 filed on 29 Jul. 2016, AustralianProvisional Patent Application No. 2016903001 filed on 29 Jul. 2016,Australian Provisional Patent Application No 2016903055 filed on 3 Aug.2016, Australian Provisional Patent Application No. 2016903056 filed on3 Aug. 2016, Australian Provisional Patent Application No. 2016904488filed on 3 Nov. 2016, and Australian Provisional Patent Application No.2016904487 filed on 3 Nov. 2016, the content of which is incorporatedherein by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system, method, mobile communicationdevice and one or more computer programs for a monitoring system. In oneexemplary form, the monitoring system which monitors vehicles enteringand exiting a vehicular parking area.

BACKGROUND

A number of problems exist for monitoring systems. For example, inrelation to monitoring systems which monitor the entry and exiting ofvehicles for a vehicular parking facility, the most common technique isthe use of a ticketing system. In particular, a physical ticket isissued to the driver at the entry point when being granted access to theparking facility. The driver can then present the ticket to a paymentmachine in order to pay for the time that the vehicle has been parked inthe parking facility. The ticket can then be presented to another ticketmachine at an exit point to be allowed to leave the parking facility.Such ticketing systems have numerous problems. For example, because ofthe design of particular vehicles and parking facilities, some driversfind it difficult to collect the ticket from the ticket machine at theentry point or insert a ticket for reading with the ticket reader at theexit point without exiting the vehicle. Generally, the driver may alsoattempt to hold/find the ticket while driving within the parkingfacility which can distract the driver and may result in accidents.Furthermore, if the ticket is lost by the driver, the driver isgenerally required to pay full fare in order to exit the parkingfacility. Additionally, at busy parking facilities, there can be anextensive queue of drivers at payment machines to pay for theirrespective parking. Furthermore, at busy parking facilities, there canbe a significant queue at the ticket issuing and reading machines due tothe time spent by the driver collecting and inserting the ticket.

Some attempts have been made to configure monitoring systems toautomatically detect an approaching user's mobile device when at aspecified location relative to the entry point or exit point. However,current positioning systems of mobile device's are quite inaccurate ormay not be appropriate for the particular problem at hand. For example,Bluetooth beacon systems are generally affected by various changinginterference from the environment meaning that the user's mobile phonemay detect a beacon signal at varying distances from the entry or exitsignal. Other positioning systems such as satellite positioning systems(e.g. GPS) are generally only accurate within 3.5 meters however it isnot uncommon that the detected position may be accurate to only within10 meters. Satellite positioning systems are generally useful in outdoorenvironments. In areas such as underground carparks, satellitepositioning systems may simply not be available or the accuracy will beextremely poor and therefore be inappropriate for determining if user'smobile device is at a specified location relative to the entry point orexit point in order to determine if the user is allowed to enter or exitthe restricted area.

Other problems exist for other applications of monitoring systems. Forexample, a residential/commercial building may have a monitoring systemin the form of an access control system for residential parking whichcan be activated by using a hand operated radio transmitter or aproximity card in order to open a gate, roller door or the like. As somedrivers tend to attempt to locate the radio transmitter or proximitycard prior to approaching the gate/door whilst driving in order to speedup the access process, the driver tends to become distracted which canlead to accidents. Furthermore, if a new user wishes to access therestricted parking area, a new hand held transmitter or proximity cardmay need to be ordered, particularly if the access control system is aproprietary system.

In relation to building access control system, users may be required tocarry an identification device, such as a proximity card or the like,which can be read by a reading device in order for an access controlleddoor or the like to be opened. However, a large number of users tend tostore their identification device in a bag or wallet which in someinstances must be removed in order to be read. This can be frustratingand time consuming for the user. Additionally, as users tend to carry anumber of items when travelling through such access controlled doors, itis frustrating that a dedicated device, with no other purpose, needs tobe carried with the user when attempting to access the restricted area.

Monitoring systems for detecting when a user's mobile device is locatedin a particular room or area is extremely difficult to achieve withsignificant accuracy. Existing systems include Apple iBeacon™ relycannot control the distance which a signal propagates with any accuracy.Therefore, a mobile device may determine it is within a particular roomor area where in fact the signal emitted by the iBeacon™ may havepropagated substantially further than intended thereby providing a falsepositive detection.

There is therefore a need to alleviate one or more of theabove-mentioned problems or provide a commercial alternative.

The reference in this specification to any prior publication (orinformation derived from it), or to any matter which is known, is not,and should not be taken as, an acknowledgement or admission or any formof suggestion that prior publication (or information derived from it) orknown matter forms part of the common general knowledge in the field ofendeavour to which this specification relates.

SUMMARY

For purposes of summarizing the disclosure, certain aspects, advantagesand novel features of the inventions have been described herein. It isto be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may beachieved in accordance with any particular embodiment of the invention.Thus, the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner thatseeks one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein withoutnecessarily seeking other advantages as may be taught or suggestedherein.

In one aspect there is provided a system including:

a plurality of transmitters, each transmitter having associatedtherewith a reflector antenna configured to substantially reflect signaltransmission toward a detection area; and

a mobile device configured to:

-   -   receive transmitter signals from at least two transmitters from        the plurality of transmitters; and    -   determine that the mobile device is located within the detection        area based on received signal strengths of the at least some of        the transmitter signals.

In certain embodiments, each reflector antenna is a corner reflectorantenna.

In certain embodiments, the respective reflecting walls of eachreflector antenna are walls of a bollard housing the respectivetransmitter.

In certain embodiments, a dipole driven element of each transmitter isspaced from the corner reflector antenna by a spacing bracket mountedwithin the respective bollard.

In certain embodiments, each bollard includes a cutout section to enabletransmission of the respective transmitter signal by the respectivetransmitter.

In certain embodiments, each bollard has a protective cover tosubstantially cover the respective cutout section without substantiallyinhibiting the transmission of the respective transmitter signal by therespective transmitter toward the detection area.

In certain embodiments, each bollard has upper and lower signalsuppression material located above and below the transmitter tosubstantially suppress diffraction of transmission of the respectivetransmitter signal in an upward and downward direction.

In certain embodiments, each bollard has a substantially squarecross-sectional profile.

In certain embodiments, the plurality of transmitters consists of twotransmitters, wherein the plurality of transmitters are spaced apartfrom each other and the reflector antennas of the transmitters facesubstantially toward each other to thereby define the detection area inat least some of the area therebetween.

In certain embodiments, the plurality of transmitters consists of threetransmitters, wherein the plurality of transmitters are spaced apartfrom each other in a triangular configuration and the reflector antennasof the plurality of transmitters face substantially toward each other tothereby define the detection area in at least some of the areatherebetween.

In certain embodiments, the plurality of transmitters consists of fourtransmitters, wherein the plurality of transmitters are spaced apartfrom each other in a quadrilateral configuration and the reflectorantennas of the plurality of transmitters face substantially toward eachother to thereby define the detection area in at least some of the areatherebetween.

In certain embodiments, the plurality of transmitters are Bluetoothdevices.

In certain embodiments, the Bluetooth devices are Bluetooth Low Energy(BLE) devices.

In certain embodiments, the determination that the mobile device islocated within the detection area is based on a mean value of thereceived signal strengths.

In certain embodiments, the mean value is one of:

a harmonic mean value; and

a geometric mean value.

In certain embodiments, the mobile device is configured to determine amask value using the received signal strengths for the least some of thetransmitters, wherein the mobile device uses the mean value and the maskvalue to determine if the mobile device is located in one of a pluralityof detection areas associated with the plurality of transmitters.

In certain embodiments, the mobile device is configured to:

determine a first mask value based on a discrepancy between a first meanvalue of the received signal strength for signals received from a firstpair of the transmitters of the plurality of transmitters and a secondmean value of the received signal strength for signals received from asecond pair of the transmitters of the plurality of transmitters;

determine a second mask value based on a discrepancy between the secondmean value the first mean value;

determine if the mobile device is located in a first detection area inthe event that one or more first criteria are satisfied based on maskingthe mean value using the first mask value; and

determine if the mobile device is located in a second detection area inthe event that one or more second criteria are satisfied based onmasking the mean value using the second mask value.

In certain embodiments, the mobile device is configured to determinethat the mobile device is located within the detection area in responseto the mobile device determining that the mean value of the receivedsignal strengths is greater than or equal to a signal strength thresholdover a threshold period of time.

In certain embodiments, the mobile device is configured to determinethat the mobile device is located within the detection area in responseto the mobile device determining that the mean value of the receivedsignal strengths is greater than or equal to a first signal strengththreshold over a threshold period of time starting when the mean valueof the received signal strengths is greater than a second signalstrength threshold, wherein the second signal strength threshold isgreater than the first signal strength threshold.

In certain embodiments, the mobile device is configured to transfer dataindicative of the determination that the mobile device is within thedetection area to a monitoring system.

In certain embodiments, the monitoring system includes a controller withan associated communication device, wherein the data indicative of thedetermination is an access request generated and transferred by themobile device which is received by the controller via the communicationdevice, wherein the controller is configured to facilitate, based on therequest, instructing an access control system to allow the entity totravel through an entry or exit point.

In certain embodiments, the entry or exit points are associated with avehicular parking facility.

In certain embodiments, at least one of the entry request and the exitrequest generated by the mobile communication device is indicative ofone or more wireless devices which the mobile communication device iscurrently connected thereto, wherein in the event that the controllerreceives data indicative of a plurality of substantially simultaneousentry or exit requests received from multiple mobile communicationdevices, the one or more connected wireless devices indicated by atleast one of the entry request or exit request is used to at leastpartially determine which entry or exit request from the plurality ofsubstantially simultaneous entry or exit requests to process.

In certain embodiments, the mobile communication device is configured todetermine, using the received signal strengths of the at least some ofthe transmitter signals, a positional offset of the mobile device withinthe detection area, wherein at least one of the entry or exit request isindicative of a positional offset of the mobile device within thedetection area, wherein in the event that the controller receives dataindicative of a plurality of substantially simultaneous entry or exitrequests received from multiple mobile communication devices, thepositional offset indicated by at least one of the entry request or exitrequest is used to at least partially determine which entry or exitrequest from the plurality of substantially simultaneous entry or exitrequests to process.

In a second aspect there is provided a method including:

transmitting, from a plurality of transmitters, transmitter signals,wherein each transmitter has associated therewith a reflector antennaconfigured to substantially reflect signal transmission toward adetection area; and

determine, at a mobile device, that the mobile device is located withinthe detection area based on received signal strengths of at least twotransmitter signals of the plurality of transmitter signals.

In certain embodiments, the determination that the mobile device islocated within the detection area is based on a mean value of thereceived signal strengths.

In certain embodiments, the mean value is one of:

a harmonic mean value; and

a geometric mean value.

In certain embodiments, the method includes the mobile devicedetermining a mask value using the received signal strengths for theleast some of the transmitters, wherein the mobile device uses the meanvalue and the mask value to determine if the mobile device is located inone of a plurality of detection areas associated with the plurality oftransmitters.

In certain embodiments, the method includes the mobile device:

determining a first mask value based on a discrepancy between a firstmean value of the received signal strength for signals received from afirst pair of the transmitters of the plurality of transmitters and asecond mean value of the received signal strength for signals receivedfrom a second pair of the transmitters of the plurality of transmitters;

determining a second mask value based on a discrepancy between thesecond mean value the first mean value;

determining if the mobile device is located in a first detection area inthe event that one or more first criteria are satisfied based on maskingthe mean value using the first mask value; and

determining if the mobile device is located in a second detection areain the event that one or more second criteria are satisfied based onmasking the mean value using the second mask value.

In certain embodiments, the method includes the mobile devicedetermining that the mobile device is located within the detection areain response to the mobile device determining that the mean value of thereceived signal strengths is greater than or equal to a signal strengththreshold over a threshold period of time.

In certain embodiments, the method includes the mobile devicedetermining that the mobile device is located within the detection areain response to the mobile device determining that the mean value of thereceived signal strengths is greater than or equal to a first signalstrength threshold over a threshold period of time starting when themean value of the received signal strengths is greater than a secondsignal strength threshold, wherein the second signal strength thresholdis greater than the first signal strength threshold.

In certain embodiments, the method includes the mobile devicetransferring data indicative of the determination that the mobile deviceis within the detection area to a monitoring system.

In certain embodiments, the monitoring system includes a controller withan associated communication device, wherein the data indicative of thedetermination is a request generated and transferred by the mobiledevice which is received by the controller via the communication device,wherein the method includes the controller instructing, based on therequest, an access control system to allow the entity to travel throughan entry or exit point.

In certain embodiments, the entry or exit point are associated with avehicular parking facility.

In certain embodiments, at least one of the entry request and the exitrequest generated by the mobile communication device is indicative ofone or more wireless devices which the mobile communication device iscurrently connected thereto, wherein in the event that the controllerreceives data indicative of a plurality of substantially simultaneousentry or exit requests received from multiple mobile communicationdevices, the method includes the controller using the one or moreconnected wireless devices indicated by at least one of the entryrequest or exit request to at least partially determine which entry orexit request from the plurality of substantially simultaneous entry orexit requests to process.

In certain embodiments, the mobile communication device is configured todetermine, using the received signal strengths of the at least some ofthe transmitter signals, a positional offset of the mobile device withinthe detection area, wherein at least one of the entry or exit request isindicative of a positional offset of the mobile device within thedetection area, wherein in the event that the controller receives dataindicative of a plurality of substantially simultaneous entry or exitrequests received from multiple mobile communication devices, the methodincludes the controller using the positional offset indicated by atleast one of the entry request or exit request to at least partiallydetermine which entry or exit request from the plurality ofsubstantially simultaneous entry or exit requests to process.

In a third aspect there is provided a system including:

a plurality of transmitters, each transmitter having associatedtherewith a reflector antenna configured to substantially reflect signaltransmission toward a detection area; and

a computer program executable by a mobile device associated with anentity, wherein the mobile device is configured to:

-   -   receive transmitter signals from at least two transmitters from        the plurality of transmitters; and    -   determine that the mobile device is located within the detection        area based on received signal strengths of the at least some of        the transmitter signals.

Other aspects and embodiments will be appreciated throughout thedetailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Example embodiments should become apparent from the followingdescription, which is given by way of example only, of at least onepreferred but non-limiting embodiment, described in connection with theaccompanying figures.

FIG. 1 illustrates a functional block diagram of an example processingdevice that can be utilized to embody or give effect to a particularembodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example network infrastructure that can beutilized to embody or give effect to a particular embodiment;

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an example system for an accesscontrol system for a parking facility;

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart representing a method performed by thesystem of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 illustrates an isometric view of an example of an entry or exitcommunication device body;

FIG. 6 illustrates a perspective front view of an example of a portionof the entry or exit communication device;

FIG. 7 illustrates a perspective side view of a portion of the entry orexit communication device of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is an elevated view of a portion of the entry or exitcommunication device of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 9 is a perspective end view of a portion of the entry or exitcommunication device of FIG. 6;

FIGS. 10A to 10C are plan views of a schematic illustrating a vehicleapproaching an entry point and being granted access to park within aparking facility using the system of FIG. 3;

FIGS. 11A to 11C are plan views of a schematic illustrating a vehicleapproaching an exit point and being authorised to leave the parkingfacility using the system of FIG. 3;

FIG. 12 is graph of scaled power values over time for first, second,third and fourth signals received by the mobile communication devicefrom the communication system of FIG. 3;

FIG. 13 illustrates a block diagram of an example system for an accesscontrol system for a residential/commercial parking area;

FIG. 14 illustrates a block diagram of an example system for an accesscontrol system for a building access system;

FIG. 15 illustrates a block diagram of a further example system for anaccess control system;

FIGS. 16A and 16B illustrate a block diagram of a further example systemfor an access control system;

FIG. 17A illustrates a block diagram of a further example system for anaccess control system for a vehicular parking area;

FIG. 17B illustrates a flow chart representing a method performed by thesystem of FIG. 17A;

FIG. 18 illustrates a plan view of an alternate transmitter arrangementfor a system to operate with an access control system;

FIG. 19 illustrates a cross-sectional view of an example transmitterassembly including a bollard and a transmitter;

FIG. 20 illustrates a semi transparent projected view of the transmitterassembly of FIG. 19;

FIG. 21 illustrates a contour plot showing the calculated harmonic meanvalue at various positions for a simulation of a four transmitterconfiguration without noise and a superimposed ideal boundary of thedetection area;

FIG. 22 illustrates a two dimensional plot of the boundary of thedetection area for the simulated transmitter configuration of FIG. 21;

FIG. 23 is a graph of the calculated harmonic mean value at positionsalong line E for the simulated transmitter configuration of FIG. 21;

FIG. 24 is a graph of the calculated harmonic mean value at positionsalong line F for the simulated transmitter configuration of FIG. 21;

FIG. 25 illustrates a contour plot showing the calculated harmonic meanvalue for a simulation of a four transmitter configuration with noiseand a superimposed ideal boundary of the detection area;

FIG. 26 a two dimensional plot of the detection area for the simulatedtransmitter configuration of FIG. 25;

FIG. 27 is a graph of the calculated harmonic mean value at positionsalong line G for the simulated transmitter configuration of FIG. 25;

FIG. 28 is a graph of the calculated harmonic mean value at positionsalong line H for the simulated transmitter configuration of FIG. 25;

FIG. 29 is a contour plot representation showing the calculated harmonicmean value for a simulation of a two transmitter configuration withoutnoise and a superimposed ideal boundary of the detection area;

FIG. 30 is a two dimensional plot of the boundary of the detection areafor the simulated transmitter configuration of FIG. 29;

FIG. 31 is a graph of the calculated harmonic mean value at positionsalong line I for the simulated transmitter configuration of FIG. 29;

FIG. 32 is a graph of the calculated harmonic mean value at positionsalong line J for the simulated transmitter configuration of FIG. 29;

FIG. 33 is a graph showing a plot of error rates for various harmonicmean value thresholds for a two and four transmitter configuration;

FIG. 34 is a contour plot representation showing the calculated harmonicmean RSSI for a simulation of a three transmitter configuration withoutnoise and a superimposed ideal boundary of the detection area;

FIG. 35 is a contour plot representation showing the calculatedgeometric mean value for a simulation of a four transmitterconfiguration without noise and a superimposed ideal boundary of thedetection area;

FIG. 36 illustrates a plan view of an example alternate transmitterarrangement for a system to operate with an access control system,wherein the mobile communication device is located outside bothdetection areas;

FIG. 37 illustrates a plan view of the alternate transmitter arrangementof FIG. 36, wherein the mobile communication device is located within aleft detection area;

FIGS. 38 and 39 illustrate a flow chart representing a method performedby a system including the mobile communication device and access controlsystem for the alternate transmitter arrangement of FIGS. 36 and 37;

FIG. 40A is a contour plot representation showing the mean value atvarious positions calculated for the alternate transmitter arrangementof FIGS. 36 and 37;

FIG. 40B is a contour plot representation showing a discrepancy betweena left mean value and a right mean value at various positions calculatedfor the alternate transmitter arrangement of FIGS. 36 and 37;

FIG. 40C is a contour plot representation showing the masked mean valueat various positions defining a left detection area for the alternativetransmitter arrangement of FIGS. 36 and 37;

FIG. 41 is a graph showing the masked mean value at positions along lineK;

FIG. 42 is a graph showing the masked mean value at positions along lineL;

FIG. 43 is a two dimensional plot showing the boundary of the leftdetection area defined by a threshold for the alternate transmitterarrangement of FIGS. 36 and 37;

FIG. 44 is a graph showing a comparison of an error rate between thealternate transmitter arrangement of FIGS. 16A and 16B compared to thealternate transmitter arrangement of FIGS. 36 and 37; and

FIG. 45 is a further system for detecting if a mobile device is locatedwithin a detection area.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

The following modes, given by way of example only, are described inorder to provide a more precise understanding of the subject matter of apreferred embodiment or embodiments. In the figures, incorporated toillustrate features of an example embodiment, like reference numeralsare used to identify like parts throughout the figures.

A particular embodiment of the present invention can be realised using aprocessing device, an example of which is shown in FIG. 1. Inparticular, the processing device 100 generally includes at least oneprocessor 102, or processing unit or plurality of processors, memory104, at least one input device 106 and at least one output device 108,coupled together via a bus or group of buses 110. In certainembodiments, input device 106 and output device 108 could be the samedevice. An interface 112 can also be provided for coupling theprocessing device 100 to one or more peripheral devices, for exampleinterface 112 could be a PCI card or PC card. At least one storagedevice 114 which houses at least one database 116 can also be provided.The memory 104 can be any form of memory device, for example, volatileor non-volatile memory, solid state storage devices, magnetic devices,etc. The processor 102 could include more than one distinct processingdevice, for example to handle different functions within the processingdevice 100.

Input device 106 receives input data 118 (such as electronic contentdata), for example via a network or from a local storage device. Outputdevice 108 produces or generates output data 120 (such as viewablecontent) and can include, for example, a display device or monitor inwhich case output data 120 is visual, a printer in which case outputdata 120 is printed, a port for example a USB port, a peripheralcomponent adaptor, a data transmitter or antenna such as a modem orwireless network adaptor, etc. Output data 120 could be distinct andderived from different output devices, for example a visual display on amonitor in conjunction with data transmitted to a network. A user couldview data output, or an interpretation of the data output, on, forexample, a monitor or using a printer. The storage device 114 can be anyform of data or information storage means, for example, volatile ornon-volatile memory, solid state storage devices, magnetic devices, etc.

Examples of electronic data storage devices 114 can include diskstorage, optical discs, such as CD, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, flashmemory/memory card (e.g., solid state semiconductor memory), MultiMediaCard, USB sticks or keys, flash drives, Secure Digital (SD) cards,microSD cards, miniSD cards, SDHC cards, miniSDSC cards, solid-statedrives, and the like.

In use, the processing device 100 is adapted to allow data orinformation to be stored in and/or retrieved from, via wired or wirelesscommunication means, the at least one database 116. The interface 112may allow wired and/or wireless communication between the processingunit 102 and peripheral components that may serve a specialised purpose.The processor 102 receives instructions as input data 118 via inputdevice 106 and can display processed results or other output to a userby utilising output device 108. More than one input device 106 and/oroutput device 108 can be provided. It should be appreciated that theprocessing device 100 may be any form of terminal, PC, laptop, notebook,tablet, smart phone, specialised hardware, or the like.

The processing device 100 may be a part of a networked communicationssystem 200, as shown in FIG. 2. Processing device 100 could connect tonetwork 202, for example the Internet or a WAN. Input data 118 andoutput data 120 could be communicated to other devices via network 202.Other terminals, for example, thin client 204, further processingsystems 206 and 208, notebook computer 210, mainframe computer 212, PDA214, pen-based computer 216, server 218, etc., can be connected tonetwork 202. A large variety of other types of terminals orconfigurations could be utilized. The transfer of information and/ordata over network 202 can be achieved using wired communications means220 or wireless communications means 222. Server 218 can facilitate thetransfer of data between network 202 and one or more databases 224.Server 218 and one or more databases 224 provide an example of aninformation source.

Other networks may communicate with network 202. For example,telecommunications network 230 could facilitate the transfer of databetween network 202 and mobile or cellular telephone 232 or a PDA-typedevice 234, by utilising wireless communication means 236 andreceiving/transmitting station 238. Satellite communications network 240could communicate with satellite signal receiver 242 which receives datasignals from satellite 244 which in turn is in remote communication withsatellite signal transmitter 246. Terminals, for example furtherprocessing system 248, notebook computer 250 or satellite telephone 252,can thereby communicate with network 202. A local network 260, which forexample may be a private network, LAN, etc., may also be connected tonetwork 202. For example, network 202 could be connected with ethernet262 which connects terminals 264, server 266 which controls the transferof data to and/or from database 268, and printer 270. Various othertypes of networks could be utilised.

The processing device 100 is adapted to communicate with otherterminals, for example further processing systems 206, 208, by sendingand receiving data, 118, 120, to and from the network 202, therebyfacilitating possible communication with other components of thenetworked communications system 200.

Thus, for example, the networks 202, 230, 240 may form part of, or beconnected to, the Internet, in which case, the terminals 206, 212, 218,for example, may be web servers, Internet terminals or the like. Thenetworks 202, 230, 240, 260 may be or form part of other communicationnetworks, such as LAN, WAN, ethernet, token ring, FDDI ring, star, etc.,networks, or mobile telephone networks, such as GSM, CDMA or 3G, 4G,etc., networks, and may be wholly or partially wired, including forexample optical fibre, or wireless networks, depending on a particularimplementation.

Referring to FIG. 3 there is shown an example system 302 for use with amonitoring system providing in the form of an access control system 304for a vehicular parking facility such as a vehicular parking station. Inone form, the system 302 operates as a virtual ticketing system. Thesystems 302, 304 operate together to form system 300.

In particular, the system 302 includes a communication system 306associated with the vehicular parking facility and a computer program308 executable upon a mobile device such as a mobile communicationdevice 310.

The mobile communication device 310 can be provided in the form of aprocessing device 100 and more specifically in the form of a smartphone, a tablet processing system or the like. In particular, the mobilecommunication device 310 generally includes a processor 102, memory 104,an input device 106, an output device 108, and a communication interface112 coupled together via a bus. The input and output device 106, 108 canbe provided in an integrated form such as a touch screen display. Inparticular embodiments, the mobile communication device 310 can includea camera device. The mobile communication device 310 is generallyassociated with an entity such as a user which could be a driver or apassenger of the vehicle. The computer program 308 can be provided inthe form of a ‘mobile app’.

In use, the mobile communication device 310 could be located near theuser in the vehicle, in the user's pocket, mounted within the vehicle,or the like. Preferably, the user does not need to interact with themobile communication device 310 during use in order for communication tooccur between the mobile communication device 310 and the communicationsystem 206. Rather, the mobile communication device 310 is configured toautomatically operate and communicate with the communication systemwithout user input in order to enter and exit the restricted vehicularparking area.

The access control system 304 of the vehicular parking facility can be aticket issuance system including an access control processing system312, an entry controller 314 in the form of a ticket issuance machine atan entry point of the vehicular parking facility, an exit controller 316in the form of a ticket reading machine at the exit point of thevehicular parking facility, an automated entry and exit assembly 318,320 (e.g. an automatically controlled boom gate) at the respective entryand exit points, and a vehicular detection system 322. The accesscontrol processing system 312 can be provided in the form of processingsystem 100.

Advantageously, the described system 302 can be retrofitted with anexisting access control system 304 that currently issues physicaltickets such that an entity has an option to receive authorisation datain the form of a virtual ticket to their respective mobile communicationdevice 310. However, it is possible for the system 300 can be newlydesigned and installed which includes system 302. For the purposes ofclarity, the entity is this example is a user associated with the mobilecommunication device 310.

Referring more specifically to FIG. 3, the communication system 306 isgenerally a local communication system that utilises wirelesscommunication. The communication system 306 includes an entrycommunication system 324 including at least one entry communicationdevice associated with the entry point of the restricted area and anexit communication system 326 including at least one exit communicationdevice associated with the exit point of the restricted area.

In a preferable form, the communication system 306 includes a pluralityof entry communication devices associated with the entry point of therestricted area and a plurality of exit communication devices associatedwith the exit point of the restricted area. As will be described in moredetail below, the use of multiple entry and exit communication devicescan be advantageous to handle different mobile communication deviceswhich have different communication characteristics (e.g. speed,communication sensitivity, etc.).

More specifically, the entry communication system 324 includes a firstentry communication device 334 located a short distance (i.e. 0.5 to 10metres) prior to the ticket issuance machine 314 and the entry boom gateassembly 318 at the entry point of the parking facility. Similarly, afirst exit communication device 354 is located a small distance (i.e.0.5 to 10 metres) prior to the ticket reading machine 316 and the exitboom gate assembly 320 at the exit point of the parking facility. In oneform, the first entry communication device 334 and the first exitcommunication device 354 are located inside respective bollards. Thefirst entry and exit communication devices 334, 354 are preferably fixeddevices. Preferably, the first entry communication device 334 and thefirst exit communication device 354 communicate use Bluetooth protocolsuch as Bluetooth Low Energy. The wireless signal transmitted by thefirst entry and exit communication devices 334, 354 are indicative of aunique device identity/address for the respective communication device.

Referring to FIG. 5 there is shown a communication device body 325 ofthe first entry communication device 334 or the first exit communicationdevice 354 which has a parabolic internal shaped wall to define adirectional antenna. FIGS. 6 to 9 show the communication device bodyassembled with a microcontroller 328 which is mounted to the rearsurface of the communication device body 325. The microcontroller 328 isconfigured to perform various wireless communication processing. As canbe seen in FIGS. 6 to 9, the antenna element 327 which is in electricalcommunication with the microcontroller 328, is located at a focus pointof the parabolic shaped internal wall. The parabolic shaped wall of thecommunication device body 325 defines a focused transmission region,like a “hotspot”, which the mobile communication device 310 is able todetect a strong increase in received signal strength compared to areasoutside the focused transmission region. As shown in FIGS. 5 to 9, thedirectional antenna of the first entry and first exit communicationdevices 334, 354 is a parabolic antenna which advantageously focuses thetransmission of the transmitted signal within a specific region whilststill capturing transmitted signals from the mobile communication device310 over a broad region. It will be appreciated that a cover can extendbetween the side edges of the body 325 which is substantially flush withthe external wall of the bollard, although for clarity purposes this hasnot been shown in FIGS. 5 to 9.

In a preferable form, the entry communication system 324 of thecommunication system 306 can further include a second entrycommunication device 336 located within or near the ticket issuancemachine 318. Furthermore, the exit communication system 326 of thecommunication system 306 can further include a second exit communicationdevice 356 located within or near the ticket reading machine 316. Thesecond entry and exit communication devices 336, 356 are preferablyfixed devices. In a preferable form, the second entry and second exitcommunication devices 336, 356 are Bluetooth communication devices usingBluetooth Low Energy. The wireless signal transmitted by the secondentry and exit communication devices 336, 356 are indicative of a uniquedevice identity/address for the respective communication device. Thesecond entry communication device 336 is part of or coupled to an entrypoint microcontroller 338, such as a Raspberry Pi microcontroller or thelike, located within or near the ticket issuance machine 314. The firstentry communication device 334 is also coupled, via a wired medium thatextends between the bollard and the ticket issuance machine 314, to theentry point microcontroller 338. Similarly, the second exitcommunication device 356 is part of or coupled, via a wired medium, toan exit point microcontroller 358, such as a Raspberry Pimicrocontroller or the like, located in or near the ticket readingmachine 316. The first exit communication device 354 is also part of orcoupled to the exit point microcontroller 358 via a wired medium thatextends between the bollard and the ticket reading machine 316.

The entry communication system 324 of the communication system 306preferably further includes a third and fourth entry communicationdevice 330, 332 provided in the form of a first entry transmitter 330and a second entry transmitter 332. Furthermore, the exit communicationsystem 326 of the communication system 306 further includes a third andfourth exit communication device 350, 352 provided in the form of firstexit transmitter 350 and a second exit transmitter 352. The first andsecond entry and exit transmitters 330, 332, 350, 352 are configured tooperate as beacons, each periodically transmitting a unique wirelesssignal which can be received by an approaching mobile communicationdevice 310. The unique wireless signal can be indicative of a uniqueidentity (such as a universally unique identifier) associated with therespective communication device. The unique wireless signals which canbe received by an approaching mobile communication device 310 can beused by the mobile communication device 310 to determine which side ofthe vehicle (i.e. left or right) the approaching mobile communicationdevice 310 is located. As will be explained in further detail below,determining whether a particular mobile communication device 310 islocated on the left or right side of the vehicle 1000 can be used todistinguish between multiple mobile communication devices 310 located inthe vehicle 1000 which are substantially simultaneously attempting tocommunicate with the communication system 306. Additionally, thereceived wireless signals from the transmitters 330, 332, 350, 352 canbe analysed by the approaching mobile communication device 310 to assistwith determining when an entry or exit request should be transmitted bythe mobile communication device 310.

The first and second entry transmitters 330, 332 are generally locatedadjacent opposing sides of the entry path (i.e. road or driveway) asshown in FIGS. 10A to 10C. In particular, the first and second entrytransmitters 330, 332 are spatially offset relative to the centre of thevehicle entry path. In one particular form, the first entry transmitter330 and second entry transmitter 332 may be mounted/embedded on/in aroof surface, ground surface, or wall surface of the parking facility.Generally, the first and second entry transmitters 330, 332 are alignedsubstantially orthogonal relative to the travel direction of the vehicle1000 along the entry vehicle path when passing the first and secondentry transmitters 330, 332. In one form, the first and second entrytransmitters 330, 332 share a common power source although it ispossible for separate power sources.

Similarly, the first and second exit transmitters 350, 352 are generallylocated adjacent opposing sides of the exit path (i.e. road or driveway)as shown in FIGS. 11A to 11C. In particular, the first and second exittransmitters 350, 352 are spatially offset relative to the centre of thevehicle exit path. In one particular form, the first exit transmitter350 and second exit transmitter 352 may be mounted/embedded on/in a roofsurface, ground surface, or wall surface of the parking facility.Generally, the first and second exit transmitters 350, 352 are alignedsubstantially orthogonal relative to the travel direction of the vehicle1000 along the exit vehicle path when passing the first and second exittransmitters 350, 352. In one form, the first and second exittransmitters 350, 352 share a common power source although it ispossible for separate power sources.

In a general form, the mobile communication device 310 is configured togenerate and transfer the entry request in response to receiving a firstentry signal from the first entry communication device 334 thatsatisfies an entry criteria. Additionally, the mobile communicationdevice 310 is configured to generate and transfer the exit request inresponse to receiving a first exit signal 354 from the first exitcommunication device that satisfies an exit criteria. In one form, theentry criteria and the exit criteria are based at least partially on thereceived signal strength of the received first entry signal and thefirst exit signal respectively.

In more preferable forms, the mobile communication device 310 isconfigured to generate and transfer the entry request in response toreceiving a first entry signal from the first entry communication device334 and a second entry signal from the second entry communication device336 which substantially simultaneously satisfy one or more entrycriteria. Similarly, in more preferable forms, the mobile communicationdevice 310 is configured to generate and transfer the exit request inresponse to receiving a first exit signal from the first exitcommunication device 354 and a second exit signal from the second exitcommunication device 356 which substantially simultaneously satisfy oneor more exit criteria.

Due to a wide variety of locations which the mobile communication device310 can be located in a vehicle 1000 which can impact upon the receivedsignal strength, and also the varying signal receiving characteristicsof a wide variety of mobile communication devices 310, in some instancesit may not be possible to predefine the entry criteria and the exitcriteria solely dependent upon a predefined threshold received signalstrength. Therefore, in a preferable form, the mobile communicationdevice 310 is configured to dynamically determine an entry scale valuebased on the received signal strength of a plurality of third and/orfourth entry signals received from the first and second entrytransmitters 330, 332 such that a predefined entry criteria can beutilised by the mobile communication device 310 to determine when totransfer the entry request using the entry scale value. Similarly, themobile communication device 310 is configured to dynamically determinean exit scale value based on the received signal strength of a pluralityof third and/or fourth exit signals received from the first and secondexit transmitters 350, 352 such that a predefined exit criteria can beutilised by the mobile communication device 310 to determine when totransfer the exit request using the exit scale value.

More specifically, the mobile communication device 310 is configured tocontinuously convert the received signal strength for the third andfourth entry signals to received power values. Each power value isdetermined by the mobile communication device 310 using the receivedsignal strength and configuration data stored in the memory indicativeof the transmission characteristics of the first and second entrytransmitters 330, 332. The mobile communication device 310 then analysesat least some of the power values (such as a shifting historical windowof power values) for the received third and fourth entry signals whenapproaching the entry point to determine an order of magnitude of thepower values being calculated. In particular, the order of magnitude ofthe received power can vary significantly between various mobilecommunication devices and the location of the mobile communicationdevice within the vehicle. In one form, the order of magnitude of thepower values can be determined based on a peak power value detected forthe first or second transmitter 330, 332. In one form, the peak powervalue may occur when the mobile communication device has just passed theclosest point spatially to the first or second entry transmitters 330,332 as illustrated in FIG. 10B. The length of the shifting historicalwindow can be in memory (such as via configuration data) to take intoaccount variations due to interference and the like. Depending upon thelocation of the mobile communication device 310 within the vehicle 1000,the peak power value may be identified for either the first or secondentry transmitter 330, 332. Once a peak power value has been detectedfor either the first or second entry transmitter 330, 332 due to adetected downturn in the power of the received third or fourth entrysignals, the mobile communication device 310 determines an entry scalevalue based on the value of the peak power of the received third orfourth entry signals from the first or second entry transmitters 330,332. The entry scale value can be determined by the mobile communicationdevice 310 such that the peak power value is linearly scaled to have apredefined scaled power value (e.g. 1000—as shown in FIG. 12). The entryscale value is stored in memory of the mobile communication device 310and later used for determining if/when to transmit an entry request inrelation to the received first and second entry signals. In thisparticular example, the entry request can be received by the secondentry communication device 336 of the communication system 306.

The mobile communication device 310 can also determine and compare thepeak power values of the first and second entry transmitters 330, 332 todetermine which side of the vehicle 1000 (e.g. left or right) the mobilecommunication device 310 is located. The mobile communication device 310has stored in memory configuration data, received from a serverprocessing system 340, indicative of which side of the entry path eachentry transmitter is located. For example, the first entry transmitter330 may be located on the left side of the vehicle entry path and thesecond entry transmitter 332 may be located on the right side of thevehicle entry path. In the event that the highest peak power valuebetween the two entry transmitters 330, 332 is associated with a thirdsignal received from the first entry transmitter 330, the mobilecommunication device 310 determines that it is located on the left sideof the vehicle 1000. Alternatively, in the event that the highest peakpower value between the two entry transmitters 330, 332 is associatedwith a fourth signal received from the second entry transmitter 332, themobile communication device 310 determines that it is located on theright side of the vehicle 1000. Position data indicative of theparticular side of the vehicle that the mobile communication device 310is located is stored in memory of the mobile communication device 310and transferred as part of the entry request which can be used by theaccess control processing system 312 to distinguish between multipleentry requests received substantially simultaneously from multiplemobile communication devices 310 within the same vehicle.

Once the entry scale value has been determined, the mobile communicationdevice 310 is configured to scale the determined power values of firstand second entry signals received from the first and second entrycommunication devices 334, 336.

For each first entry signal that the mobile communication device 310receives as it approaches toward to the entry point, the mobilecommunication device 310 determines the received signal strength of thefirst entry signal and then converts the received signal strength topower. The mobile communication device 310 then scales the poweraccording to the entry scale value and applies a smoothing function tothe scaled power value taking into account previously determined scaledpower values for at least a portion of any previously received firstentry signals. A similar process occurs in relation to each receivedsecond entry signal. In particular, each second entry signal that themobile communication device 310 receives as it approaches toward to theentry point, the mobile communication device 310 determines the receivedsignal strength of the second entry signal and then converts thereceived signal strength to power. The mobile communication device 310then scales the power value according to the entry scale value andapplies a smoothing function to the scaled power value taking intoaccount previously determined scaled power values for at least a portionof any previously received second signals. The mobile communicationdevice 310 then determines whether the scaled power values for the mostrecently received samples of the first and second entry signals satisfyone or more entry signal criteria. In response to the one or more entrysignal criteria being met, the mobile communication device 310 generatesand transmits an entry request. In this example, the entry request isreceived by the second communication device 356.

More specifically, the mobile communication device dynamically generatesa first baseline entry scaled power value after receiving each firstentry signal and a second baseline entry scaled power value afterreceiving each second entry signal. The first and second baseline entryscaled power values may be calculated as the average of the scaled powervalues received over a threshold period of time or over a thresholdnumber of received signals (e.g. last 50 samples). Thus, it will beappreciated that the baseline changes over time. The mobilecommunication device 310 has stored in memory a first and secondpredefined threshold entry growth rate. In one form, the first andsecond predefined threshold entry growth rate may be defined in theconfiguration data. In one example, the various growth rates can beexpressed as a percentage of growth although other expressions of thegrowth rate are possible. The mobile communication device 310 determinesa first entry growth rate of the current scaled power value of the firstentry signal relative to the first baseline entry scaled power value.Furthermore, the mobile communication device 310 determines a secondentry growth rate of the current scaled power value of the second entrysignal relative to the second baseline entry scaled power value. Themobile communication device 310 then determines whether the first andsecond entry growth rates meet or exceed the predefined first and secondthreshold entry growth rates respectively. In one form, the mobilecommunication device 310 may also determine whether the first and secondscaled power values of the most recently received signals meet or exceeda first and second scaled power threshold in order to avoid falsepositive detections. In the event of a positive determination, themobile communication device 310 generates and transmits an entryrequest. In one variation, a plurality of consecutive growth rates mayneed to meet or exceed the threshold for consecutive scaled power valuesin order for an entry request to be generated and transferred in orderto avoid sudden changes in interference and the like.

In the event that the first and second entry growth rates do not meet orexceed the predefined first and second threshold entry growth ratesrespectively, the mobile communication device 310 can be configured tocheck whether consecutive scaled power values for a threshold period oftime are greater than a predefined scaled power value threshold. Thetemporal threshold and the associated predefined scaled power valuethreshold can be stored in memory of the mobile communication device 310and can be defined by the configuration data. This failsafe processingcan be performed due to unusual circumstances, such as a user handlingtheir mobile communication device mid-approach toward the entry point.For example, in the event that the mobile communication device 310determines that the scaled power value for the first entry signal hasbeen greater than a first scaled power threshold (e.g. 200) for athreshold period of time (e.g. 4 seconds) and the scaled power value forthe second entry signal has been greater than a second scaled powerthreshold (e.g. 400) for a threshold period of time (e.g. 4 seconds),the mobile communication device 310 determines that one or more entrycriteria have been met and then proceeds to generate and transmit anentry request.

A similar process occurs in relation to the first and second exitcommunication devices. In particular, the mobile communication device310 is configured to continuously convert the received signal strengthfor the third and fourth exit signals to received power values. Eachpower value is determined by the mobile communication device 310 usingthe received signal strength and predefined data stored in the memoryindicative of the transmission characteristics of the first and secondexit transmitters 350, 352. The mobile communication device 310 thenanalyses at least some of the received power values (such as a shiftinghistorical window of power values for the received third and fourth exitsignals) to determine an order of magnitude of the power values. In oneform, an order of magnitude can be determined based on the magnitude ofa peak power value for the first or second exit transmitters 350, 352.In one form, the peak power value may be determined when the mobilecommunication device 310 has just passed the closest point spatially tothe first or second exit transmitters 350, 352 as illustrated in FIG.11B. The length of the shifting historical window is defined to takeinto account variations due to interference and the like and can bedefined in the configuration data. Depending upon the location of themobile communication device 310 within the vehicle 1000, the peak powervalue may be associated with either the first or second exit transmitter350, 352. Once a peak power value has been detected for either the firstor second exit transmitter 350, 352 due to a detected downturn in thepower of the received third or fourth exit signals, the mobilecommunication device 310 determines an exit scale value based on thevalue of the peak power of the received third or fourth exit signalsfrom the first or second exit transmitters 350, 352. The exit scalevalue can determined by the mobile communication device 310 such thatthe peak power value is linearly scaled to have a predefined scaledpower value (e.g. 1000). The exit scale value is stored in memory of themobile communication device 310 and later used for determining if/whento transmit an exit request in response to first and second exitsignals.

In some instances, the mobile communication device 310 can alsodetermine and compare the peak power values of the first and second exittransmitters 350, 352 to determine which side of the vehicle 1000 (e.g.left or right) the mobile communication device 310 is located whenattempting to exit the restricted area. The mobile communication device310 has stored in memory configuration data, received from the serverprocessing system 340, indicative of which side of the vehicle exit patheach exit transmitter 350, 352 is located. For example, the first exittransmitter 350 may be located on the left side of the vehicle exit pathand the second exit transmitter 352 may be located on the right side ofthe vehicle entry path. In the event that the highest peak power valuebetween the two entry transmitters 350, 352 is associated with a thirdsignal received from the first exit transmitter 330, the mobilecommunication device 310 determines that it is located on the left sideof the vehicle 1000. Alternatively, in the event that the highest peakpower value between the two exit transmitters 350, 352 is associatedwith a fourth signal received from the second exit transmitter 352, themobile communication device 310 determines that it is located on theright side of the vehicle 1000. Position data indicative of theparticular side of the vehicle that the mobile communication device 310is located is stored in memory of the mobile communication device 310and provided as part of the entry request which can be used by theaccess control processing system 312 to distinguish between multipleexit requests received substantially simultaneously from multiple mobilecommunication devices in the same vehicle 1000.

Once the exit scale value has been determined, the mobile communicationdevice 310 is configured to scale the determined power values of firstand second signals received from the first and second entrycommunication devices.

For each first exit signal that the mobile communication device 310receives as it approaches toward to the exit point, the mobilecommunication device 310 determines the received signal strength of thefirst exit signal and then converts the received signal strength topower. The mobile communication device 310 then scales the poweraccording to the exit scale value and applies a smoothing function tothe scaled power value taking into account previously determined scaledpower values for at least a portion of any previously received firstexit signals. A similar process occurs in relation to each receivedsecond exit signal. In particular, for each second exit signal that themobile communication device 310 receives as it approaches toward to theexit point, the mobile communication device 310 determines the receivedsignal strength of the second exit signal and then converts the receivedsignal strength to power. The mobile communication device 310 thenscales the power value according to the exit scale value and applies asmoothing function to the scaled power value taking into accountpreviously determined scaled power values for at least a portion of anypreviously received second exit signals. The mobile communication device310 then determines whether the scaled power values for the mostrecently received first and second exit signals satisfy one or moreentry criteria. In response to the one or more exit criteria being met,the mobile communication device 310 generates and transmits an exitrequest. In this particular example, the exit request can be received bythe second exit communication device 356 of the communication system306.

More specifically, the mobile communication device 301 dynamicallygenerates a first baseline exit scaled power value after receiving eachfirst exit signal and a second baseline exit scaled power value afterreceiving each second exit signal. The first and second baseline exitscaled power values may be calculated as the average of the scaled powervalues received over a threshold period of time or over a thresholdnumber of received signals (e.g. last 50 samples). Thus, it will beappreciated that the baseline changes over time. The mobilecommunication device 310 has stored in memory a first and secondpredefined threshold exit growth rate. The mobile communication device310 determines a first exit growth rate of the current scaled powervalue of the first exit signal relative to the first baseline exitscaled power value. Furthermore, the mobile communication device 310determines a second exit growth rate of the current scaled power valueof the second exit signal relative to the second baseline exit scaledpower value. The mobile communication device 310 then determines whetherthe first and second exit growth rates meet or exceed the predefinedfirst and second threshold exit growth rate respectively. Optionally,the mobile communication device 310 determines whether the scaled powervalues of the most recently received first and second signals meet orexceed a scaled power threshold. In the event of a positivedetermination, the mobile communication device 310 then generates andtransmits an exit request. As previously discussed in relation to theentry criteria, in one variation a plurality of consecutive growth ratesmay need to meet or exceed the threshold for consecutive scaled powervalues in order for an exit request to be generated and transferred inorder to avoid sudden changes in interference and the like.

In the event that the first and second exit growth rates do not meet orexceed the predefined first and second threshold exit growth ratesrespectively, the mobile communication device 310 can be configured tocheck whether consecutive scaled power values have been determined overa threshold period of time which meet or exceed a predefined scaledpower value threshold. The temporal and scaled power value thresholdscan be stored in memory of the mobile communication device 310 and canbe part of the configuration data. This failsafe processing can beperformed due to unusual circumstances, such as a user handling theirmobile communication device 310 during the approach toward the exitpoint. For example, in the event that the mobile communication device310 determines that the scaled power value for the first exit signal hasbeen greater than a first scaled power threshold (e.g. 200) for athreshold period of time (e.g. 4 seconds) and the scaled power value forthe second exit signal has been greater than a second scaled powerthreshold (e.g. 400) for a threshold period of time (e.g. 4 seconds),the mobile communication device 310 determines that one or more exitsignal criteria have been met and then proceeds to generate and transmitthe exit request.

In some configurations and as mentioned above, there may instances wheremultiple mobile communication devices 310 are located in the vehicle1000 approaching the exit point. However, only one of the mobilecommunication devices 310 may have stored in memory authorisation datafor the respective parking facility. In response to receiving one ormore exit signals from the exit communication system 326, each mobilecommunication device 310 can be configured by the computer program 308to determine whether any authorisation data is currently stored inmemory indicative of the restricted area. In the event that one of themobile communication devices 310 determines that no authorisation datais stored in the memory, the respective mobile communication device 310can be configured to ignore the received exit signals. Therefore, inmost instances the exit request indicative of the position of therespective mobile communication 310 within the respective vehicle 1000may not be required. Thus, in some embodiments, only a single exittransmitter may be required in order to allow the mobile communicationdevice 310 to set the exit scale value. However, in some situations theusers of two separate mobile communication devices 310, who have beenseparately granted access to the restricted area, both exit the parkingfacility together in the same vehicle 1000. In this instance, theposition data of the exit request can be used by the access controlprocessing system 312 to distinguish between multiple exit requests todetermine which user account the parking session should be associatedtherewith.

The mobile communication device 310 is preferably configured to uselocation services and region monitoring of the associated operatingsystem. In particular, one or more geographical regions are registeredwith the operating system of the mobile communication device 310,wherein each registered geographical region defines a geographicalboundary about a respective parking facility. The boundary may be apredefined radius (e.g. 500 metres) from a point of the respectiveparking facility. Each geographical region which is registered by thecomputer program 308 has a list of the transmission regions (alsoreferred to as beacon regions) associated with the communication devices330, 332, 334, 336, 350, 352, 354, 356 of the communication system 306of the parking facility. The mobile communication device 310 isconfigured to determine a region crossing event, using the locationservices of the operating system, when the mobile communication device310 crosses a defined geographical boundary associated with a respectiveparking facility. Upon the mobile communication device 310 determiningthat the mobile communication device 310 has entered the definedgeographical region based on location services, the computer program 308is launched in background environment of the operating system if thecomputer program 308 is not already loaded in the background environmentof the operating system. The mobile communication device 310 isconfigured to listen for transmitted entry or exit signals associatedwith one or more of the registered transmission regions (also referredto as beacon regions) associated with communication devices 330, 332,334, 336, 350, 352, 354, 356 of the respective communication system 306.

The entry point microcontroller 338 includes a data port for connectionto the ticket issuance machine 314 via a data cable 334. Similarly, theexit point microcontroller 358 also includes a data port for connectionto the ticket receipt machine 316 via a data cable 338. Each data portcan be a serial port that connects to the serial port of the ticketissuance/receipt machine 314, 316 via a serial cable 334, 338. It willbe appreciated that other types of data cables and data ports can beused. As will be appreciated, the ticket issuance machine 314 and theticket receipt machine include a controller for issuing and readingtickets respectively.

In relation to the ticket issuance machine 314, the second entrycommunication device 336 transfers data to the ticket issuance machine314 via the data cable 334 based upon the received entry request. Thedata transferred to the ticket issuance machine can be indicative of orinclude the entry request and additionally a flag or marker indicatingthat the user is a registered user of the system 302 such that nophysical ticket needs to be issued by the ticket issuance machine 314.The ticket issuance machine 314 transfers the entry request to theaccess control processing system 312 via a local computer network. Theaccess control system can then determine whether access should begranted based on data stored in a data store 340 or based on adetermination carried out by server processing system 340 and data store342. In response to a successful determination that access should begranted to the user, the access control processing system 312 or theserver processing system 340 generates authorisation data in response.The authorisation data is then transferred, from the access controlprocessing system 312, to the ticket issuance machine 314 which thenforwards the authorisation data to the entry point microcontroller 338via the data cable 334. The entry point microcontroller 338 thenwirelessly transfers, via the second entry communication device 336, theauthorisation data to the mobile communication device 310 which isconfigured to store the authorisation data in memory of the mobilecommunication device 310. Upon generating/receiving the authorisationdata, the access control processing system 312 transfers an entryactuation command to the entry boom gate assembly 318 at the entry pointsuch that the entry boom gate actuates to the open position to allow theuser to drive their vehicle into the parking facility. In particularforms, the entry boom gate assembly 318 is electrically coupled to anentry vehicular detection system 322, wherein the boom gate assembly 318only actuates to the open position in response to receiving the entryactuation command in combination with receiving an electrical signalfrom the entry vehicular detection system 322 indicating that a vehicleis present at the entry boom gate assembly. In one particular form, theentry vehicular detection system 322 may be provided in the form of aloop detector or the like.

In relation to the ticket reading machine 316 located at the exit point,the second exit communication device 356 transfers the exit requestreceived from the mobile communication device 310 to the ticket readingmachine 316 via the data cable 338. The exit request is indicative ofthe received authorisation data stored in the memory of the mobilecommunication device 310. It will be appreciated that in someembodiments, the authorisation data can include the typical ticket datastored on a magnetic stripe or encoded data of a traditional parkingticket. However, as will be discussed in relation to variousembodiments, the authorisation data can include additional information.The exit request is then transferred to the access control processingsystem 312 via the computer network. The authorisation data may beon-forwarded to the server processing system 340 in some configurations.The access control processing system 312 or the server processing system340 determine, based on the received exit request indicative of theauthorisation data whether the user is permitted to leave the parkingfacility. In response to a positive determination, the access controlprocessing system 312 or the server processing system 340 records theexit time in data store 344 or data store 342 and the access controlprocessing system 312 transfers an exit actuation command to the exitboom gate assembly 320 at the exit point via the ticket reading machine316. The exit boom gate assembly 320 is then actuated to an openposition to allow the user to drive their vehicle out of the parkingfacility.

As shown in FIG. 3 and as already mentioned, the system 302 alsoincludes the server processing system 340 in data communication with anaccess control processing system 312. The server processing system 340can be configured by one or more server computer programs. The serverprocessing system 340 includes or is able to access the data store 342provided in the form of a database including entity records forregistered users of the system 302. Users may register to use the system302 via a website hosted by a web-server associated with the serverprocessing system 340 or via the computer program 308 executing upon themobile communication device 310.

Upon successful user registration, the server processing system 340stores in the server database 342 device specific data that ties theuser to the mobile communication device 310. The device specific datamay include a MAC address of the mobile communication device 310 anddevice type data. The user record stored in the server database 342additionally includes a user identity. The user identity can betransferred to the mobile communication device 310 for storage in thememory of the mobile communication device 310. Alternatively, the useridentity can be presented to the user such that it can be input whenrequired in future interactions with the computer program 308.

Each user record in the data store 342 additionally includes financialdata indicative of a financial account that can be debited by the serverprocessing system 340 in response to parking fees being incurred fromthe access control system 304 of the parking facility. In particular,once the user leaves the parking facility, the access control processingsystem 312 generates an electronic invoice that is transferred to theserver processing system 340 via a communication network such as a WideArea Network (WAN) like the Internet. The server processing system 340then automatically debits the corresponding user account in accordancewith the invoiced amount. A service fee may additionally be charged bythe operator of the system 302 to the user's account.

Upon successful user registration to use the system 302, the serverprocessing system 340 additionally generates key data that is associatedwith the user record for the user. The key data is stored in the serverdatabase 342. In addition, the key data is transferred to the mobilecommunication device 310 via a communication network, wherein the mobilecommunication device 310 stores the key data in memory. The key dataincludes key pairs, where each key pair includes a single use entry keyand a corresponding single use exit key. The mobile communication device310 generates the entry request to include one of the entry keysassociated with the user. The access control processing system 312queries a registered entity database 344 accessible to the accesscontrol processing system 312 to determine whether the indicated entrykey is valid. The mobile communication device 310 also generates theexit request to include the corresponding exit key associated with theuser. The access control processing system 312 queries the registeredentity database 344 to determine whether the indicated exit key isvalid. Periodically, the server processing system 340 updates the datastored in the registered entity database 344 with new key data and newuser identities to enable the access control processing system 312 toverify the validity of received entry and exit requests.

When the entry communication system 324 receives an entry request, theentry request can also be indicative of the user identity and a hasheduser identity. The computer program 308 of the mobile communicationdevice 310 is configured to obtain the user identity from memory or viauser input and hash the user identity using device specific informationassociated with the mobile communication device 310 such as the MACaddress and the device type of the mobile communication device 310. Theentry request is forwarded to the access control system 304 forverification using the registered entity database 344. The registeredentity database 344 has stored therein user records each including therespective user identity, device specific information for the respectiveuser's mobile communication device 310, and key pairs associated withthe respective user. The access control processing system 312 performsthe same hashing function upon the user identity using the devicespecific information and compares the generated hashed user identity tothe received hashed user identity indicated by the entry request. Theaccess control processing system 312 also determines whether the entrykey is associated with the respective user indicated by the receiveduser identity. In response to successful comparisons, the access controlprocessing system 312 determines that the received entry request isvalid and generates the authorisation data for transfer to the ticketissuance machine 314 which is eventually on-forwarded to the mobilecommunication device 310. Although this validation process has beendescribed as being performed by the access control processing system312, it is alternatively possible for the server processing system 340to perform this validation process. In the event that the access controlprocessing system 312 or the server processing system 340 determinesthat the received entry request is not valid based on the results of thecomparison, the access control processing system 312 transfers a failuresignal back to the ticket issuance machine 314 that issues a physicalticket as per normal operation. When a successful verification isdetermined by the access control processing system 312, the accesscontrol processing system 312 updates the registered entity database 344to indicate that the received entry key has been used such that thisrespective entry key can no longer be used again.

When the exit communication system 326 receives an exit request, theexit request can be indicative of an exit key corresponding to thepreviously presented entry key when entering the parking facility, theuser identity and the hashed user identity. The access controlprocessing system 312 can perform the same hashing process andcomparison as described above. Additionally, the access controlprocessing system 312 can also determine whether the exit key isassociated with the user in the database and also whether the exit keycorresponds to the previously presented entry key when entering theparking facility. In alternative arrangements, the server processingsystem 344 can perform this validation process. In response tosuccessful comparisons, the access control processing system 312determines or receives data indicate that the received exit request isvalid and transfers the exit actuation command back to ticket readingmachine 316 to actuate the opening of the exit boom gate assembly 320 toallow the user to exit their vehicle out of the parking facility.

Due to the single-use nature of the key pairs, the mobile communicationdevice 310 under control of the computer program 308 can issue a keypair replenishment request to the server processing system 340 which istransferred via a communication network, wherein the server processingsystem 340 generates a plurality of new key pairs which are thentransferred back to the mobile communication device 310 for storage. Thekey pair replenishment request can be transferred automatically by thecomputer program 308 when a threshold limit of key pairs has beenreached. Alternatively, the key pair replenishment request can be sentvia user interaction with the computer program 308. A copy of the keypairs that were issued are also stored in the server database 342 of theserver processing system 340. Additionally, a copy of the new key pairsare updated to the registered entity database 344 accessible by theaccess control processing system 312. Each time that an entry or exitkey is used for an entry or exit request, the mobile communicationdevice 310 flags or marks the key pair, or alternatively purges therespective key pair once used such that it is no longer reused.

In particular embodiments, the computer program 308 controls the mobilecommunication device 310 to generate the entry and exit request to beindicative of one or more wireless devices that the mobile communicationdevice 310 is currently connected thereto. In the event that thecommunication system 306 receives data indicative of substantiallysimultaneous entry or exit requests from multiple mobile communicationdevices 310, the communication system 306 can use the data indicative ofthe one or more connected wireless devices as indicated by the entry orexit requests to determine which user account to associate with theparking session. In particular, the entry or exit request of the mobilecommunication device 310 may be indicative of a particular mobilecommunication device 310 that is connected to a hands-free communicationsystem which could be a hands-free communication system of the vehicleor a separate device such as a Bluetooth headset. Effectively, a mobilecommunication device 310 that is connected to other wireless devices isconsidered to have priority over other mobile communication devices 310and thus the entry request received from this mobile communicationdevice 310 should be processed such that the parking sessions isassociated with the respective user account.

Additionally or alternatively, the computer program 308 controls themobile communication device 310 to generate the entry and exit requestto be indicative of a relative position of the mobile communicationdevice 310 within the vehicle based on the received signal strength orscaled power value of the third or fourth entry or exit signals. Inparticular, due to the mobile communication device 310 having stored inlocal memory configuration data indicative of the configuration of thecommunication system 306 for the parking facility, the received signalstrength or scaled power value for the third and fourth entry or exitsignals can indicate whether the mobile communication device 310 islocated on the left or right side of the vehicle 1000. For example,referring to FIG. 12 there is shown a plot of the scaled power valuesgenerated by a mobile communication device 310 based on received entrysignals from the first entry communication device 334 (line 1230),second entry communication device 338 (line 1240), first entrytransmitter 330 (line 1220) mounted on the left side of the vehicle pathand second entry transmitter 332 (line 1210) mounted on the right sideof the vehicle path. In this example, the second entry transmitter 332mounted on the right side of the vehicle path has the higher scaledpower value in FIG. 12, wherein the computer program configures themobile communication device 310 to generate the entry request to includeside data indicative of the right side of the vehicle. In the event thatthe communication system 306 receives substantially simultaneous accessor exit requests from multiple mobile communication devices 310, theaccess control processing system 312 can use the relative location ofthe mobile communication device 310 to determine which user account toassociate with the parking session. In one form and in countries where adriver is located on the right hand side of the vehicle, priority isgiven to an entry and exit request that indicates a relative location ofthe right side of the vehicle. It will be appreciated that in countrieswhere the driver is located on the left side of the vehicle, priority isgiven to an entry or exit request indicating a left location.

In another form, the mobile communication device 310 generates the entryand exit request to be indicative of one or more timestamps associatedwith entry or exit signals, wherein the one or more timestamps can beused as a means to determine whether the user is located in the front orthe back of the vehicle. This information together with the informationas to whether a user is located on the left or right side of the vehiclecan be used to indicate a quadrant of the vehicle that the mobilecommunication device 310 is located. For example, the quadrants mayinclude front-left, front-right, rear-left and rear-right. The accesscontrol processing system 312 can use the quadrants to determine whichmobile communication device 310 is likely to be associated with thedriver of the vehicle. For example, in countries where the driver sitsin the front-right portion of the vehicle, the access control processingsystem gives priority to entry requests received from mobilecommunication device 310 that indicate a front-right relative locationwithin the vehicle.

In certain situations, it may not be clear which mobile communicationdevice 310 is to be associated with the parking session whensubstantially simultaneous entry requests are received from the samevehicle 1000. As a result, temporary authorisation data may be issued tothe mobile communication devices 310 associated with the substantiallysimultaneous entry requests. A confirmation notification may then betransferred by the server processing system 340 to the each mobilecommunication device 310. The received confirmation notificationpresented by computer program 308 requests user confirmation as to whichmobile communication device 310 is to be associated with the parkingsession. In response to a user of one of the mobile communicationdevices 310 responding to the confirmation notification indicating thatthe respective mobile communication device 310 is to be associated withthe parking session, the server processing system and/or the accesscontrol processing system 312 update the stored data in data store(s)342, 344. The access control processing system 312 and/or the serverprocessing system 340 generate authorisation data to replace thetemporary authorisation data which is then transferred to the confirmingmobile communication device 310 for storage in memory.

In one form, the parking facility may be associated with variouscommercial shops, stores and facilities that offer to validate of theuser's parking. For example, it is common that a cinema associated witha parking facility may validate the customer's ticket such that thecustomer does not need to pay for parking. In this regard, the mobilecommunication device 310 can be operated under control of the computerprogram 308 to obtain a parking validation code and transfer theauthorisation data indicative of the validation code to the exitcommunication device 326 for processing by the access control system304. In particular, a receipt may be issued to the user who is acustomer of a business associated with parking facility, wherein thereceipt may include machine-readable indicia such as a bar code or QRcode. The computer program 308 allows the user to capture a photographof the machine-readable indicia that is subsequently interpreted todetermine the parking validation code. The parking validation code canbe combined with the already stored authorisation data, such that whenthe authorisation data is transferred to the exit communication device326 upon approaching the exit point of the parking facility, the accesscontrol system 304 can process the ticket in accordance with thevalidation code.

The system 302 can additionally include a plurality of parking facilitycommunication devices 346 located throughout the parking facility. Eachparking facility communication device 346 can broadcast navigationinformation that can be received by the mobile communication device 310within a broadcast proximity of the communication device 346 and presentnavigation information to the user. In one form, the navigationinformation may be presented audibly.

Referring to FIG. 4 there is shown a flowchart representing a methodperformed by the various components of the system 302 and the accesscontrol system 304 of the vehicular parking facility.

In particular, at step 405, the method 400 includes the mobilecommunication device detecting a boundary crossing event. The mobilecommunication device begins to monitor for a list of registeredtransmission regions of the communication system 306 in response to thedetected boundary crossing event. Additionally, the computer program 308is launched in the background environment of the operating system of themobile communication device 310 in the event it is not already.

As the user approaches an entry point of the vehicular parking facility,step 410 of the method 400 includes the mobile communication device 310under control of the computer program 308 receiving entry signals fromentry communication system 324 of the communication system 306 which areassociated with the monitored region.

At step 412, the method includes the mobile communication devicedetermining an entry scale value, based on a detected peak power valueof one of the entry communication devices of the entry communicationsystem 324, to scale the power values of received entry signals.

At step 415, the method 400 includes the mobile communication device 310generating and transferring, to the second entry communication device338, an entry request in response to one or more received entry signalssatisfying one or more entry criteria. In a preferable form, the entryrequest is generated and transferred in an automated manner without userintervention (i.e. without the user holding the mobile communicationdevice and without operating the mobile communication device).

At step 420, the method includes the second entry communication device336 transferring the received entry request to the access control system304 via the ticket issuance machine 314. More specifically, the entrycommunication device 336 communicates with the ticket issuance machine314 via the data cable. The ticket issuance machine 314 then transfersthe entry request to the access control processing system 312 via acomputer network such as a Local Area Network (LAN).

At step 425, the method 400 includes the second entry communicationdevice 336 receiving authorisation data generated by the access controlsystem 304 via the ticket issuance machine. In particular, the accesscontrol processing system 312 generates the authorisation data that istransferred to the ticket issuance machine 314 via the computer networkwhich in turn transfers the authorisation data to the second entrycommunication device 336 of the entry point microcontroller 338 and theinterconnecting data cable 338. The authorisation data is stored in adatabase 344 accessible by the access control processing system 312.

At step 430, the method 400 includes the second entry communicationdevice 336 wirelessly transferring the authorisation data to the mobilecommunication device 310 of the user for storage in memory of the mobilecommunication device 310 as a form of virtual ticket.

At step 435, the method 400 includes the access control processingsystem 312 instructing the ticket issuance machine 314 to actuate theentry boom gate assembly 318 to move to an open position.

As the user approaches an exit point of the vehicular parking facility,step 440 of the method 400 includes the mobile communication device 310under control of the computer program 308 receiving exit signals from atleast some of the exit communication devices of the communication system306 which are associated with the monitored region.

At step 442, the method 400 includes the mobile communication devicedetermining an exit scale value, based on a detected peak power value ofone of the communication devices of the exit communication system 326,to scale the power values of received exit signals.

At step 445, the method 400 includes the user's mobile communicationdevice 310 transferring an exit request indicative of the authorisationdata to the exit communication system 326 in response to one or morereceived exit signals satisfying one or more exit criteria. In apreferable form, the exit request is generated and transferred in anautomated manner without user intervention (i.e. without the userholding the mobile communication device and without operating with themobile communication device). The exit request is indicative of at leastthe authorisation data in this example.

At step 450, the method 400 includes the second exit communicationdevice 356 transferring the exit request to the access controlprocessing system 312 and the ticket reading machine 316. In particular,the second exit communication device 326 of the exit pointmicrocontroller 358 transfers the exit request to the ticket readingmachine 316 via the data cable 338. The ticket-reading machine 316 thentransfers the exit request to the access control processing system 312via the LAN.

At step 455, the method 400 includes the access control processingsystem 312 transferring an exit actuation command to the ticket-readingmachine 316 such that the exit boom gate assembly 320 is opened to allowthe user to drive their vehicle out of the exit point of the vehicularparking facility.

The computer program 308 executing upon the mobile communication device310 can be opened by the user to display a user interface that can bepresent various information to the user or allow the user to requestvarious functions to be performed. For example, the user can bepresented with information regarding the entry time into the parkingfacility which is stored as part of the authorisation data. Furthermore,a temporal indication of the amount of time available to remain parkedin the parking facility can be presented. In addition, the user cantransfer the authorisation data to a different registered user, whereinthe authorisation data is transferred to the server processing system340 and relayed to another mobile communication device 310 associatedwith the nominated registered user. In addition, the server processingsystem 340 communicates the transfer to the access control processingsystem 312 such that different key data is used when authenticating theexit request.

Furthermore, the user can request via the computer program 308 paymentof parking fees via an alternate financial account. In addition, theuser can review a transaction history. Furthermore, the user can tagspecific transactions with tags (i.e. work expense, personal expense,etc.). Additionally, the user can request printing of a physical ticketvia the computer program 308, wherein a code is generated which can beinput by the user at a ticket payment machine associated with theparking facility such that a physical ticket is printed which hasassociated therewith the authorisation data. Furthermore, the user canrequest that the computer program 308 be disabled from generating entryrequests and exit requests until re-enabled. This feature can beselected to ensure that the correct mobile communication device 310 isissued the authorisation data in the event multiple mobile communicationdevices 310 are located in the vehicle.

In particular embodiments, the user may interact with the computerprogram 308 to place a booking on a car park in the parking facility.The mobile communication device 310 communicates with the serverprocessing system 340 to place a booking. The server processing systemprovides marker data indicative of the booking having been placed withthe access control system of the selected parking facility. When theentry request is generated by the mobile communication device 310, theentry request is indicative of the marker. The access control processingsystem 312 can use this marker to calculate the final invoice which issent to the server processing system 340. It will be appreciated thatsimilar markers can be requested via the computer program 308 from theserver processing system 340 for various types of tariffs.

In an optional form, an alternate mobile communication device can beutilised which is permanently fixed within the vehicle 1000. Forexample, the mobile communication device can be provided in the form ofa microcontroller that is permanently associated with the vehicle.

It will be appreciated from the above description that multiple usersusing multiple mobile communication devices can be registered to use thesystem 302. Additionally, it will be appreciated that the mobilecommunication devices 310 can be used for multiple restricted areas(i.e. multiple parking facilities). It will also be appreciated thatmultiple parking facilities may be retrofitted for use with the system302.

It will be appreciated that in certain arrangements, it may not benecessary to operate a boom gate to allow a user to enter or exit therestricted area. However, it may be preferable in this arrangement forthe system to include a feedback device at each access point, such as anelectrical light which can be actuated, to indicate successfulcommunication between the mobile communication device 310 and the accesscontrol system 304. For example, the system may include an entryelectrical light which can be actuated to display a red light when amobile communication device 310 of an approaching vehicle has not beenissued with authorisation data. Upon authorisation data beingsuccessfully transmitted, the entry electrical light can be actuated todisplay a green light. Similarly, an exit electrical light can beprovided and actuated to indicate when authorisation data has beensuccessfully received from the mobile communication device 310 andprocessed.

It will be appreciated that in order to compensate for variousmanufacturers of mobile communication devices, the communication system306 can be configured to include a plurality of communication devices atan access point. This thereby allows a scale value to be determinedbased on one of the communication devices in order to then scale thesignals received from the second communication device to determinewhether a threshold scaled power growth rate has been met or exceeded tocause the entry/exit request to be generated. Therefore, it is possibleto implement the system to only include two communication devices,rather than the four communication devices as described in previousexamples. For example, if the relative position of the mobilecommunication device 310 is not necessarily required, it could bepossible to implement the system 300 to include a first communicationdevice provided in the form of a entry/exit transmitter (e.g. beacon)transmits a first wireless signal to the mobile communication device 310when approaching the access point in order to allow a determination ofthe scale value, and a second communication device (e.g. entry/exitcommunication device 336, 356 or 334, 354) located closer to the accesspoint assembly (i.e. boom gate) in order to allow the mobilecommunication device to determine, based on the growth rate of thescaled power values, when it is located substantially close the accesspoint assembly such that an entry/exit request can be transmitted at theappropriate time. Alternatively, in situations where transmitters cannotbe used, the wireless signals received from the first entry/exitcommunication device 334, 354 could be used to determine the scale valueand the scaled power values derived from the received wireless signalsfrom the second entry/exit communication device 336, 356 could be usedto determine when an entry/exit request should be transmitted.

In some embodiments, it may be possible to limit the wide spectrum ofwireless reception characteristics for a plurality of mobilecommunication devices used by a plurality of users for the accesscontrol system (i.e. employees of an employer who use a employee carpark may all be issued with the same type mobile communication device)to access the restricted area. Therefore, scaling of the received powermay not be necessary. In these circumstances, it is possible to use asingle communication device at each access point and to analyse thegrowth rate of the power of the entry/exit signal to determine when anentry/exit request should be issued.

In embodiments where a vehicle 1000 approaches an entry or exit point ofthe restricted area and multiple mobile communication devices are withinthe vehicle 1000, each mobile communication device 310 can communicatewith the remaining mobile communication devices 310 within the vehicle1000 in order for each mobile communication device to determine whichsingle mobile communication device is to send the entry or exit request.This configuration avoids multiple entry or exit requests beingtransferred. In one form, the multiple mobile communication devices 310can communicate locally with each other using short range wirelesscommunication such as Bluetooth Low Energy. In some situations where themultiple mobile communication devices 310 include an alternativewireless communication device which is not used for receiving the entryor exit signals from the communication system 306, the multiple mobilecommunication devices 310 will perform a handshaking process andcommunicate using the alternative wireless communication protocol. Thiscan be advantageous given that a significant processing load may alreadybe handled by the Bluetooth communication device of the mobilecommunication device. For example, the handshaking process (which mayinitially be conducted using Bluetooth) may determine that each mobilecommunication device can communicate using NFC (Near FieldCommunication). Wireless communication between the mobile communicationdevices 310 within the vehicle 1000 can then be conducted using the NFCdevices of the mobile communication devices 310. Each mobilecommunication device can wirelessly transmit data regarding the entry orexit signals being received. For example, the data being communicationcan include timestamps when particular entry or exit signals arereceived, the scaled power values of entry or exit signals beingreceived, raw power values of signals being received, and/or receivedsignal strength of signals being received. Each mobile communicationdevice 310 is configured by the computer program 308 to determine, basedon the data received from the other mobile communication device 310 aswell as the entry and exit signals received by the respective mobilecommunication device 310, whether the respective mobile communicationdevice 310 is associated with the driver. As the same analysis should beconducted in each mobile communication device 310, only one of themobile communication devices will determine it is associated with thedriver which is then configured to issue the entry or exit request.

It will be appreciated that for communication devices which utiliseBluetooth Low Energy, the entry and exit signals can be BLEadvertisements which can include the unique device identity (such as auniversally unique identifier) of the respective communication device.

In previous examples where the mobile communication device 310 attemptsto transmit an entry or exit request to the second entry or exitcommunication device 336, 356, the communication can be conductedutilising Bluetooth Low Energy. In one embodiment, the mobilecommunication device 310 attempts to establish a communication sessionwith the second communication device 336, 356 coupled to/integrated withthe entry/exit point microcontroller 338, 358 when transmitting theentry or exit request. Generally the communication session in ananonymous connection, wherein the second communication device 336, 356can only conduct one communication session at any particular time. Oncethe entry/exit access assembly (e.g. boom gate) 318, 320 is actuated toallow the user to enter or exit the restricted area, the communicationsession eventually ends due to the mobile communication device 310moving out of range such that the second entry or exit communicationdevice 336, 356 is free to establish a new communication connection withthe mobile communication device 310 of the next vehicle 1000 in theentry/exit queue.

In some instances, it is possible that a mobile communication device 310of vehicle 1000 which has passed through the entry/exit point assembly318, 320 maintains the wireless communication session for too long whichoverlaps with a point in time when a different mobile communicationdevice 310 located in the next vehicle in the entry/exit queue attemptsto transfer an entry/exit request. In this situation, the mobilecommunication device 310 of the next vehicle 1000 will be unable toidentify the second communication device 336, 356 as being available forconnection due to the maintained communication session with the mobilecommunication device 310 of the earlier vehicle 1000. However, thescanning operation will detect the first entry communication device 334,354 as being available for a communication connection which operates asa failsafe in such instances. Therefore, the mobile communication device310 of the later vehicle 1000 establishes a communication connectionwith the first entry/exit communication device 334, 354 which thenforwards the entry/exit request to the entry/exit point microcontroller338, 358. In the event that an entry request has been received by thefirst entry communication device 334, the entry point microcontroller338 transfers the generated authorisation data to the firstcommunication device 334 which is then forwarded to the connected mobilecommunication device 310 for storage. The entry point microcontroller338 then actuates the entry boom gate assembly 318 via the ticketissuance machine 314 as per normal. In the event that an exit requesthas been received by the first exit communication device 354, the firstmobile communication device 310 transfers the authorisation data to theexit point microcontroller 358 which is then processed by the accesscontrol processing system 312. Upon successful validation andprocessing, the exit point microcontroller 358 communicates with theticket reading machine 316 to actuate the exit boom gate assembly 320.

Referring to FIG. 13 there is shown a further system 1302 for use with amonitoring system provided in the form of an access control system 1304for a residential/commercial parking area. For the purposes of clarity,like reference numerals are used between FIGS. 3 and 13 to identify likeparts that function similarly. The systems 1302, 1304 operate togetherto form system 1300.

In particular, the system 1302 includes the entry communication system324 including a plurality of entry communication devices 330, 336 and anexit communication system 326 including a plurality of exitcommunication devices 350, 356. As generally the same access point isused for both entering and exiting the residential/commercial parkingarea, the communication system 306 can include a single access pointmicrocontroller 1330 which is in communication with at least one of theentry communication devices 336 and at least one of the exitcommunication devices 356. The access point microcontroller 1330 is incommunication with the access control processing system 312. The accesscontrol processing system 312 is electrically connected to a parkingaccess assembly 1318 which can include assemblies such as accesscontrolled gates, roller doors, and the like. The access controlprocessing system 312 can also be in data communication with the serverprocessing system 340 having access to the data store 342. It will beappreciated that for less sophisticated access control processingsystems 312, the server processing system 340 may not be in datacommunication with the access control processing system 312.

The system 1302 operates in a similar manner to that of system 300. Whena driver of a vehicle approaches the access point to enter theresidential/commercial parking area, an entry signal from an entrytransmitter 330 can be received by the mobile communication device 310.The peak power value for the entry transmitter 330 is used to determinean entry scale value. Another entry signal is received by the mobilecommunication device 310 from the entry communication device 336. Themobile communication device performs the same processing as thatdescribed above wherein in the event that at least some of the one ormore entry criteria have been satisfied, the mobile communication device310 transmits the entry request which is received by entry pointcommunication device 336 and transferred to the access controlprocessing system 312 via the access point microcontroller 1330. Theaccess control processing system 312 then determines whether the entryrequest is valid as previously described. In the event of successfulvalidation, the access control processing system 312 electricallycontrols the parking access assembly 1318 to allow the user to driveinto the residential/commercial parking area.

A similar process occurs when a driver of a vehicle 1000 approaches theaccess point to exit the residential/commercial parking area, an exitsignal from an exit transmitter 350 can be received by the mobilecommunication device 310. The peak power value for the exit transmitter350 is used to determine an exit scale value. Another exit signal isreceived by the mobile communication device 310 from the exitcommunication device 356. The mobile communication device performs thesame processing as that described above wherein in the event that atleast some of the one or more exit criteria have been satisfied, themobile communication device 310 transmits the exit request which isreceived by exit point communication device 356 and transferred to theaccess control processing system 312 via the access pointmicrocontroller 1330. The access control processing system 312 thendetermines whether the exit request is valid. Unlike the ticketingsystem described previously, the exit request may not need to beindicative of authorisation data, but merely uniquely and securelyidentifies the user to allow exiting through the access point.Therefore, exit requests can be processed similarly to an entryrequests. In the event of successful validation, the access controlprocessing system 312 electrically controls the parking access assembly1418 to allow the user to drive out of the residential/commercialparking area.

It will be appreciated that the system 1302 can be configured similarlyto a ticket based system as described in relation to system 302.Furthermore, it will be appreciated that in some residential/commercialparking areas, entry within the residential/commercial parking area isrestricted, but no exit request needs to be transmitted in order to exitthe residential/commercial parking area. For example, a vehiculardetection device such as that described earlier may be used to detectthat a vehicle wishes to exit the residential/commercial parking area.In this regard, the exit communication system 326 of system 1302 is notrequired for this type of arrangement.

Referring to FIG. 14 there is shown a further system diagram of a system1402 for use with a monitoring system provided in the form of an accesscontrol system 1404 for doors of a building. Systems 1402 and 1404operate together to form system 1400. For the purposes of clarity, likereference numerals are used between FIGS. 3 and 14 to identify likeparts that function similarly. In particular, the system 1402 includes acommunication system 306 including a plurality of communication devices330, 336. The communication system 306 also includes an access pointmicrocontroller 1330 which is in communication with at least one of thecommunication devices 330, 336. The access point microcontroller 1330 isin communication with the access control processing system 312. Theaccess control processing system 312 is electrically connected to a doorlock access assembly 1418. The access control processing system 312 canalso be in data communication with the server processing system 340having access to the data store 342. It will be appreciated that forless sophisticated access control processing systems 312, the serverprocessing system 340 may not be in data communication with the accesscontrol processing system 312. It will be appreciated that the system1402 is configured such that the user is only required to issue an entryrequest to travel through the doorway in a first direction, wherein thedoor can be opened without the issuance of an access request whentravelling through the doorway in the opposite direction.

The system 1402 operates in a similar manner to that of system 302.Generally, a user is carrying the mobile communication device 310 withthem in some way (i.e. in their pocket, in their hand, etc). When theuser walks toward the door in a direction which requires an entryrequest to be issued to access a restricted area of a building, an entrysignal from an entry transmitter 330 can be received by the mobilecommunication device 310. The peak power value for the entry transmitter330 is used to determine an entry scale value. Another entry signal isreceived by the mobile communication device 310 from the entrycommunication device 336. The mobile communication device 336 performsthe same processing as that described above wherein in the event that atleast some of the one or more entry criteria have been satisfied, themobile communication device 310 transmits the entry request which isreceived by communication device 336 and transferred to the accesscontrol processing system 312 via the access point microcontroller 1330.The access control processing system 312 then determines whether theentry request is valid and the user is authorised as previouslydescribed. In the event of successful validation and authorisation, theaccess control processing system 312 electrically controls the door lockassembly 1418 to allow the user to open the door and walk through thedoor way to access the restricted area of the building.

As discussed above, the mobile communication device 310 can receiveconfiguration data from the server processing system 340. The serverprocessing system 340 may be a cloud server. The configuration data caninclude data regarding the configuration of one or more communicationsystems 306 associated with one or more restricted areas. In particular,the configuration data can include unique device identities (such as auniversally unique identifier, MAC addresses, etc) for each entry andexit communication device and the associated identity of the restrictedarea (i.e. identity of the parking facilities or the like), calibrationdata such as transmission characteristics of each entry and exitcommunication device and the side of a vehicle path each communicationdevice is located. The computer program 308 can configure the mobilecommunication device 310 to obtain updated configuration data from timeto time. The configuration data may be pushed to or pulled by the mobilecommunication device 310 from the cloud server 340. Therefore, in theevent that a particular communication system 306 is reconfigured therebyaltering the various transmission characteristics of the particularcommunication system 306 for a restricted area, the configuration datacan be altered at the cloud server 340, wherein each mobilecommunication device 310 obtains the altered configuration data in atimely manner (e.g. within 6 hours).

The systems 302, 1302, 1402 are advantageous as the mobile communicationdevice 310 transmits the entry/exit request using a short range wirelesscommunication network to the local communication system 306. Thus, theuser does not require Internet access to be able to enter or exit therestricted area. However, in a variation on systems 302, 1302, 1402 theentry request and exit request can be alternatively transferred via aWAN, such as the Internet, to the server processing system 340 forprocessing. An example of this system arrangement 1502 is shown in FIG.15. It will be appreciated that some restricted areas (e.g. undergroundparking facilities) may not be appropriate for such a configuration.However, for areas which are appropriate where the mobile communicationdevice 310 is able to access the Internet using mobile communicationservices, the server processing system 340 can be configured to processthe received entry or exit request based on the data stored in the datastore 342 to determine the validity of the request. In response topositive validation, the server processing system 340 can transfer acommand to the access control processing system 312 of the accesscontrol system 1504 to actuate the respective entry/exit controlassembly 318, 320 (i.e. boom gate or the like) to allow the user toenter or exit the restricted area. In some instances the entry/exitcontrol assembly 318/320 may be more sophisticated and can receive datadirectly from the server processing system 340. The systems 1502 and1504 operate together to form system 1500.

Referring to FIGS. 16A and 16B there is shown an example of a furthersystem 1600. In particular, the system 1600 includes a plurality oftransmitters 1610A, 1610B, 1610C, 1610D and a mobile device 310 providedin the form of a mobile communication device 310 configured by acomputer program 308. Reference number 1610 is used to refer to any ofthe transmitters 1610A, 1610B, 1610C, 1610D. Each transmitter 1610 hasassociated therewith a reflector antenna 1615 (i.e. transmitter 1610Ahas associated therewith a reflector antenna 1615A, transmitter 1610Bhas associated therewith a reflector antenna 1615B, transmitter 1610Chas associated therewith a reflector antenna 1615C, and transmitter1610D has associated therewith a reflector antenna 1615D). Eachreflector antenna 1615 is configured to substantially reflect signaltransmission toward a detection area 1630 which is located between thetransmitters. It will be appreciated that whilst the example system inFIGS. 16A and 16B include four transmitters, it is possible to implementthe system 1600 using two or more transmitters 1600.

The computer program 308 is an executable program stored in memory ofthe mobile communication device 310. The mobile communication device 310can be associated with an entity such as a user. The mobilecommunication device 310 is configured by the computer program 308 toreceive transmitter signals from two or more transmitters 1610 of theplurality of transmitters 1610 when the entity approaches or is withinthe detection area 1630. The mobile communication device 310 isconfigured by the computer program 308 to determine, based on at leasttwo of the transmitter signals from the plurality of transmitters,whether the mobile communication device 310 is located in the detectionarea 1630. In one form, as a result of a positive determination, themobile communication device 310 is configured to generate and transferdata to a monitoring system to indicate the detection.

In one form, the monitoring system 1600 may be an access control systemfor an entry or exit point such as an entry or exit point of a vehicularparking facility. In this embodiment, the data transferred to the accesscontrol system may be a request to travel through the entry or exitpoint 1620 based on the received signals. In one form, the request isbased on a result of a comparison of a mean value to a threshold, wherethe mean value is calculated by the mobile communication device 310based on at least two of the transmitter signals received from at leastsome of the transmitters 1610. In one form, the mean value is indicativeof a mean received signal strength value which may be expressed in dBm,mW or the like, or may be unitless. Similarly, the threshold may beexpressed in dBm, mW or the like, or may be unitless.

Preferably, the mobile communication device 310 calculates the meanvalue and then compares this to a threshold stored in memory of themobile communication device 310. Preferably, the mobile communicationdevice 310 determines whether the mean value is greater than or equal tothe threshold. In one form, the mean value is a harmonic mean. Inanother form, the mean value is a geometric mean.

In one form, the request to travel through the entry or exit point istransmitted in response to the mobile communication device 310determining that the mean value of the received signal strengths isgreater than or equal to the signal strength threshold over a thresholdperiod of time. More specifically, the request to travel through theentry or exit point is transmitted in response to the mobilecommunication device 310 determining that the mean value of the receivedsignal strengths is greater than or equal to a first signal strengththreshold over a threshold period of time starting when the mean valueof the received signal strengths is greater than a second signalstrength threshold. In this case, the second signal strength thresholdis greater than the first signal strength threshold. Both thresholds canbe stored in memory of the mobile communication device 310 and can bereceived as part of the configuration data as discussed in previousexample. This configuration attempts to overcome problems in thesensitivity of the system where there may be changes in the receivedsignal strength for a very short period of time due to a variety offactors.

Referring to FIG. 16A, it can be seen that the mobile communicationdevice 310 is approaching the entry/exit point 1620 in direction 9000.However, as can be seen in FIG. 16A, the mobile communication device 310is located substantially outside the detection area 1630. In particular,reflector antennas 1615A and 1615B suppress signal transmission of thetransmitter signals in a direction behind the respective reflectorantennas 1615A, 1615B. Whilst transmitter signals are likely to bereceived by the mobile communication device 310 from transmitters 1610Cand 1610D, these transmitters 1610C and 1610D are further away from themobile communication device 310 and when the mean value is calculatedtaking into account the suppressed transmissions received from 1610A and1610B, the mean value will be substantially less than the thresholdwhich defines the detection area 1630. As such, no request is generatedor transferred by the mobile communication device 310 in this situationshown in FIG. 3A and thus the entity has not been provided access totravel through the entry/exit point controlled by the access controlsystem 304.

Referring to FIG. 16B, the mobile communication device 310 has continuedto move in direction 9000 toward the entry/exit point 1620. However, inFIG. 16B, the mobile communication device 310 is located within thedetection zone 1630 defined by the mean threshold value. The mobilecommunication device 310 calculates the mean value based upon thereceived signal strength, such as RSSI values, of the transmittersignals received from the transmitters 1610A, 1610B, 1610C and 1610D. Asthe received transmitter signals will have a higher signal strengthwithin the detection zone 1630 due to the reflector antennas 1615, themean value is substantially greater than the mean value calculatedoutside the detection area 1630. When the mobile communication device310 compares the mean value to the threshold in the situation depictedin FIG. 16B, the mean value is greater than or equal to the threshold.As a result of this comparison, the mobile communication device 310generates or transfers a request thereby requesting permission for theentity to travel through the entry/exit point controlled by the accesscontrol system 304. Based on the access request, the access controlsystem 304 can actuate an access control assembly 318, 320 to allow theentity to travel through the entry/exit point 1620 which in this casemay be a gate, a barrier or the like.

It will be appreciated that the rectangular representation of thedetection area 1630 in FIGS. 16A and 16B is merely illustrative for thepurposes of clarity. However, as will be shown with further results, theuse of the reflector antennas 1615 associated with the transmitters 1610and the calculation of a mean value of the received transmitter signalsenable a substantially clear boundary or perimeter of the detection area1630 where the mobile communication device 310 can generate and transfera request to travel through the associated entry/exit point 1630. Morespecifically, the use of the reflector antennas creates a substantialrate of change in the mean received signal strength for the signals,thereby allowing for the threshold to be set in memory of the mobilecommunication device 310 to determine when it is located in thedetection area 1630. It will be appreciated that the mean value of thereceived transmitter signals within the boundary of the detection area1630 are higher than the threshold set to define the boundary of thedetection area 1630.

Referring to FIG. 17A there is shown a block diagram of an examplesystem 1700 for a monitoring system provided in the form of an accesscontrol system for a parking facility. In particular, the system 1700 isa modification of system 300 described earlier. Common reference numeralhave been used for common components between system 300 and system 1700in order to avoid duplicating the functional description of the commoncomponents. Therefore, prior description relating the common componentsis incorporated into the description of system 1700. The entrycommunication system 324 includes entry transmitters 1710 including aplurality of transmitters 1610. The exit communication system 326similarly includes exit transmitters 1720 including a plurality oftransmitters 1610.

The operation of system 1700 will now be described with reference tomethod 1750 represented by the flowchart of FIG. 17B.

In particular, at step 1752, the method 1750 includes the mobilecommunication device 310 detecting a boundary crossing event. Forexample, a local based push notification can be generated by the mobilecommunication device 310 in response to a boundary crossing event. Themobile communication device 310 begins to monitor for a list ofregistered transmission regions of the communication system 306 inresponse to the detected boundary crossing event. Additionally, thecomputer program 308 is launched in the background environment of theoperating system of the mobile communication device 310 in the event itis not already.

As the user approaches an entry point of the vehicular parking facility,step 1754 of the method 1750 includes the mobile communication device310 under control of the computer program 308 receiving entrytransmitter signals from entry transmitters 1710 of the entrycommunication system 324 of the communication system 306 which areassociated with the monitored region.

At step 1756, the method 1750 includes the mobile communication device310 determining a mean value of the received signal strength based onthe received entry transmitter signals and comparing the mean value tothe threshold. In particular, as discussed earlier the mean value can bea harmonic mean of the received signal strength for the received signalsfrom the entry transmitters 1610. In some circumstances, the mean valuecan be calculated as a geometric mean of the received signal strength.In experiments, harmonic mean has been found to achieve a morediscernible boundary for the detection area.

In the event that the entry criteria is satisfied whereby the mean valueis greater than or equal to the first threshold defining the detectionarea, the method 1750 continues to proceed to step 1758. Otherwise, inthe event that the mean value does not satisfy the criteria (i.e. lessthan or equal to the first threshold), the method proceeds back to step1754 whilst the entity associated with the mobile communication device310 continues to approach the entry point 1630. However, in someembodiments, in the event that the entry criteria is satisfied, themobile communication device 310 can further continue to calculate themean value for received samples of the signals received from thetransmitters 1610 and determine that a further entry criteria issatisfied whereby the mean value does drop below or equal to a secondthreshold value for a threshold period of time. The second thresholdvalue can be less than the first threshold value. In the event that thesecond criteria is satisfied, the method proceeds to step 1758.

At step 1758, the method 1750 includes the mobile communication device310 generating and transferring, to an entry point microcontroller 338via communication device 336, an entry request in response to the meanvalue being greater than or equal to the threshold. In a preferableform, the entry request is generated and transferred in an automatedmanner without user intervention (i.e. without the user holding themobile communication device 310 and without operating the mobilecommunication device 310).

At step 1760, the method 1750 includes the entry point microcontroller338 transferring the received entry request to the access control system304 via the ticket issuance machine 314. More specifically, the entrypoint microcontroller 338 communicates with the ticket issuance machine314 via the data cable 334. The ticket issuance machine 314 thentransfers the entry request to the access control processing system 312via a computer network such as a Local Area Network (LAN).

At step 1762, the method 1750 includes the entry point microcontroller338 receiving, via the communication device 336 and the ticket issuancemachine 314, authorisation data generated by the access control system304. In particular, the access control processing system 312 generatesthe authorisation data that is transferred to the ticket issuancemachine 314 via the computer network which in turn transfers theauthorisation data to the communication device 336 of the entry pointmicrocontroller 338 and the interconnecting data cable 334. Theauthorisation data is stored in the database 344 accessible by theaccess control processing system 312.

At step 1764, the method 1750 includes the communication device 336associated with the entry point microcontroller 338 wirelesslytransferring the authorisation data to the mobile communication device310 of the user for storage in memory of the mobile communication device310 as a form of virtual ticket.

At step 1766, the method 1750 includes the access control processingsystem 312 instructing the ticket issuance machine 314 to actuate theentry gate assembly 318 to move to an open position.

As the user approaches an exit point of the vehicular parking facility,step 1768 of the method 1750 includes the mobile communication device310 under control of the computer program 308 receiving exit transmittersignals from at least some of the exit communication devices of thecommunication system 306 which are associated with the monitored region.

At step 1770, the method 1750 includes the mobile communication device310 determining a mean value based on the received signal strength ofthe exit transmitter signals from the exit transmitters 1610 andcomparing the mean value to a threshold. In particular, as discussedearlier the mean value can be a harmonic mean. In some circumstances,the mean value can be calculated as a geometric mean. In experiments,harmonic mean has been found to achieve a more discernible boundary forthe detection area.

In the event that the mean value satisfies the exit criteria (i.e. meanvalue greater than or equal to the threshold defining the detection areafor the exit point), the method 1750 continues to proceed to step 1772.Otherwise, in the event that the mean value does not satisfy the exitthreshold (i.e. mean value less than or equal to the threshold definingthe detection area for the exit point), the method 1750 proceeds back tostep 1768 whilst the entity associated with the mobile communicationdevice 310 continues to approach the exit point 1630. However, in someembodiments, the mobile communication device 310 can further continue tocalculate the mean value for received samples of the signals receivedfrom the transmitters 1610 over time and determine that each mean valuedoes drop below or equal to a second threshold value for a thresholdperiod of time. The second threshold value can be less than the firstthreshold value. In the event that a second entry criteria is satisfiedwhereby the mean values that were calculated after the first criteriawas satisfied were greater than the second threshold value for thethreshold time period, the method proceeds to step 1772.

At step 1772, the method 1750 includes the user's mobile communicationdevice 310 transferring an exit request indicative of the authorisationdata to the exit communication system 356 in response to the mean valuesatisfying one or more exit criteria. In a preferable form, the exitrequest is generated and transferred in an automated manner without userintervention (i.e. without the user holding the mobile communicationdevice and without operating with the mobile communication device). Theexit request is indicative of at least the authorisation data in thisexample.

At step 1774, the method 1750 includes the communication device 356transferring the exit request to the access control processing system312 and the ticket reading machine 316. In particular, the exitcommunication device 356 of the exit point microcontroller 358 transfersthe exit request to the ticket reading machine 316 via the data cable338. The ticket-reading machine 316 then transfers the exit request tothe access control processing system 312 via the LAN.

At step 1776, the method 1750 includes the access control processingsystem 312 transferring an exit actuation command to the ticket-readingmachine 316 such that the exit boom gate assembly 320 is opened to allowthe user to drive their vehicle out of the exit point of the vehicularparking facility.

As discussed above, the mobile communication device 310 can receiveconfiguration data from the server processing system 340. The serverprocessing system 340 may be a cloud server. The configuration data caninclude data regarding the one or more thresholds for a plurality ofentry/access points. The computer program 308 can configure the mobilecommunication device 310 to obtain updated configuration data from timeto time. The configuration data may be pushed to or pulled by the mobilecommunication device 310 from the cloud server 340. Therefore, in theevent that a particular communication system 306 is reconfigured therebyaltering the various transmission characteristics of the particularcommunication system 306 for a restricted area, the configuration datacan be altered at the cloud server 340, wherein each mobilecommunication device 310 obtains the altered configuration data in atimely manner (e.g. within 6 hours). Different types of configurationdata may be stored by the cloud server 340 for various mobilecommunication device types and models. For example, the cloud server mayhave a first type of configuration data for a first mobile communicationdevice type (e.g. Apple iPhone™), a second type of configuration datafor a second mobile communication device type (e.g. Samsung mobilephones and the similar styled phones), and a third type of configurationdata for other mobile communication device types (e.g. Motorola mobilephones and the like). Thus, the cloud server is configured to determinethe type of the mobile communication device 310 and provide thecorresponding type of configuration data to the respective mobilecommunication device 310. The configuration data can be provided in theform of a database.

Referring to FIG. 18 there is shown an alternate arrangement oftransmitters 1610A, 1610B. Unlike examples shown in FIGS. 16A and 16B,the transmitter arrangement only includes two transmitters 1610A and1610B. As can be seen in FIG. 18, the plurality of transmitters 1610A,1610B are spaced apart from each other and the reflector antennas 1615A,1615B associated with the transmitters 1610A, 1610B face substantiallytoward each other to thereby define the detection area 1630 in at leastsome of the area therebetween.

In particular arrangements, each reflector antenna 1615 is a cornerreflector antenna which generally includes reflecting walls which areorthogonal to each other. In these arrangements, each transmitter isspaced about a half wavelength from a respective corner of therespective corner reflector antenna and wherein respective reflectingwalls of the respective corner reflector antenna are equal to or greaterthan the wavelength. In particular arrangements, the transmitters 1610are preferably Bluetooth devices such as Bluetooth low energytransmitters. Therefore, given the operating frequency of such Bluetoothdevices, a dipole driven element 1901 of the transmitter is locatedapproximately 6.25 cm from the corner of the corner reflector antenna.In this example the reflector walls have a sheet profile in the sensethat the reflector walls have no gaps or holes (like a screen), thusinhibiting transmission behind the reflector walls relative to thedipole 1901.

Referring to FIGS. 19 and 20, the transmitter and reflector antenna cantogether form a transmitter assembly 1900 provided in the form of abollard 1905. The reflecting walls of each reflector antenna 1615 aretwo orthogonal walls 1910, 1920 of a bollard housing the respectivetransmitter. As can be seen in FIGS. 19 and 20, the bollard 1905 has asubstantially square cross-sectional profile. A dipole driven element1901 of each transmitter is spaced from the corner reflector antenna1615 by a spacing bracket 1950 mounted within the respective bollard1905. In particular, spacing bracket members 1951, 1952 and 1953 extendfrom walls 1910, 1920 and the corner of the corner reflector antenna1615 to locate the dipole driven element 1901 of the transmitter 1610 infree space the required distance from the corner. In experimentsconducted with Bluetooth devices, the horizontal length of theorthogonal walls 1910, 1920 of the bollard which form the reflectingwalls of the reflector antenna 1615 have been greater than or equal toapproximately 12.5 cm (i.e. about one wavelength for Bluetooth devices)and preferably about 15 cm.

As can be seen in FIGS. 19 and 20, the transmitter assembly 1900 caninclude an electrical power source 1940 which is electrically coupledvia an electrical wire 1965 to the transmitter 1610. In the examplesshown in FIGS. 19 and 20, the electrical power source 1940 may be abattery which is mounted to the wall 1940 which is not part of thereflector antenna 1615 and clear of the window 1970. It will beappreciated that it is possible for other power sources to be used, suchas mains power or the like.

Referring to FIG. 20, each bollard 1905 includes a cutout sectiondefining a window 1970 to enable transmission of the respectivetransmitter signals by the respective transmitter 1610. Each bollard1905 has a protective cover to substantially cover the respective cutoutsection defining the window 1970 without substantially inhibiting thetransmission of the respective transmitter signal by the respectivetransmitter 1610 toward the detection area.

Each bollard can include an upper and lower signal suppression materiallocated above and below the transmitter to substantially suppressdiffraction of transmission of the respective transmitter signal in anupward and downward direction. For example, an upper and lowerreflective plate may be provided thereby defining a cheese antenna.

As shown in FIGS. 16A and 16B, the transmitter arrangement can includefour transmitters 1610 arranged in a quadrilateral arrangement. Thetransmitters can be spaced a sufficient distance to allow for the entityto enter the detection area 1630 via and between neighboringtransmitters 1610. As also discussed in relation to FIG. 18, it is alsopossible to provide a transmitter arrangement including two transmitters1610. It is also possible to provide three transmitters 1610, whereinthe three transmitters are spaced apart from each other in a triangularconfiguration and the reflector antennas 1615 face substantially towardeach other to thereby define the detection area in at least some of thearea therebetween. This triangular transmitter arrangement can occurwhen one of the transmitters 1610 stops operating.

In the example discussed in relation to FIGS. 17A and 17B, the entry orexit request is received by the communication device 336, 356 associatedwith the entry or exit microcontroller 338, 358 which allows for thesystem to be operational in situations, such as underground vehicularparking facilities, where the mobile communication device 310 may beunable to utilise a mobile telecommunication network to connect to theInternet and the like. However, in situations the system is operationalin an area where a mobile telecommunication network can be accessed bythe mobile communication device 310, the entry or exit request can betransferred to the access control processing system 312 via the mobiletelecommunication network associated with the mobile communicationdevice 310. Upon receiving the entry or exit request, the access controlprocessing system 312 can instruct the entry or exit microcontroller338, 358 to actuate the respective access control assembly 318, 320. Theauthorisation data may be transferred by the access control processingsystem 312 via a computer network which is received by the mobilecommunication device 310 via the mobile telecommunication network. Thus,in this arrangement, communication between the mobile communicationdevice 310 and the access control processing system 312 does not need tobe relayed via the entry/exit microcontroller 338, 358.

During installation of the transmitter arrangement, an installer canwalk near the expected boundary of the detection area whilst holding theinstallation mobile communication device whilst viewing the meanreceived signal strength values being calculated and displayed to theinstaller. Additionally a log may be recorded by the installation mobilecommunication device. At the point where there is a substantial rate ofchange in the mean value recorded at the boundary, the mean value isrecorded. Mean values are recorded at different locations (i.e. frontedge, back edge, left side edge, right side edge) of the detection area.The threshold is then calculated as the average of the mean values asshown below by Equation 1.

$\begin{matrix}{{RSSI}_{Threshold} = \frac{{RSSI}_{{edge}\; 1} + {RSSI}_{{edge}\; 2} + {RSSI}_{{edge}\; 3} + {RSSI}_{{edge}\; 4}}{4}} & {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 1}\end{matrix}$

The determined threshold can then be stored as part of the configurationdata managed by the cloud server 340 which can be distributed to the oneor more mobile communication devices 310 of the system. The installermay have different types of installation mobile communication deviceswhich represent common types of mobile communication devices used byusers. As such, the process can be repeated for the remaininginstallation mobile communication devices to capture relevantconfiguration data for these types of mobile communication devices whichhave different antenna designs.

Simulation results discussed in relation to FIGS. 21 to 34 relate to atransmitter arrangements where transmitters are separated by 3.5 meters.For example, in a four transmitter arrangement, the transmitters 1610are arranged in a square configuration where the distance betweenneighbouring transmitters is 3.5 metres. In a three transmitterarrangement, one of the transmitters of the four transmitter arrangementis switched off. In a two transmitter arrangement, two neighbouringtransmitters are switched off such that the remaining two transmittersare spaced apart by 3.5 metres.

Referring to FIG. 21 there is shown a contour plot of a simulation ofthe calculated harmonic mean value for an area adjacent an entry/exitpoint. The simulation includes no noise. The contour plot also hassuperimposed thereon an ideal boundary of the detection area. Based onthe harmonic mean value, a threshold harmonic mean value can be selectedwhich in this example is set to −79 dBm to define a detection area shownin FIG. 22. As shown in FIG. 22, with the selection of a −79 dBmharmonic mean threshold results in the detection area covering 3.7metres in the x and y axes. FIGS. 23 and 24 show graphs of thecalculated harmonic mean values in the x and y axes of the area adjacentthe entry/exit point along lines E, F shown in FIG. 21. FIGS. 23 and 24clearly show that there is a substantial increase in the harmonic meanvalue and the rate of change thereof when approaching the boundary ofthe detection zone which thereby allows the selection and setting of anappropriate harmonic mean threshold to enable the mobile communicationdevice 310 determine when it is within the detection area 1630.

Referring to FIGS. 25, 26, 27 and 28 there is shown similar contourplots to those of FIGS. 21, 22, 23 and 24 but for the simulatedtransmitter arrangement including noise. As can be seen in these contourplots, a clear detection area can be defined based on the selection ofan appropriate harmonic mean threshold, despite the noise, which againin this example was selected to be −79 dBm. Due to the noise applied tothe simulation, the detection area covers a region extending 4.1 metresin the x axis and 3.8 metres in the y axis for the area adjacent theentry/exit point.

Referring to FIGS. 29, 30, 31 and 32 similar contour plot to those ofFIGS. 21, 22, 23 and 24 but for a simulated transmitter arrangement,without noise, having only two transmitters as discussed and depicted inFIG. 18. Again, as can be seen in FIG. 30, with the selection of anappropriate harmonic mean threshold, a distinct detection area can bedefined. FIGS. 31 and 32 clearly show that the harmonic mean valueincreases substantially at the boundary of the detection area as definedby the selected harmonic mean threshold. In this example, the harmonicmean threshold is set to −77 dBm which defines a detection area whichextends 3.4 metres in the x axis and 4.1 metres in the y axis.

FIG. 33 depicts a graph plotting the error rate for various selectedharmonic mean thresholds for the simulated four transmitter and twotransmitter arrangements. The error rates were calculated using asimulation of the mobile communication device 310 travelling througheach detection area at various random speeds and using randomcommunication transitions and using different mean thresholds. As can beseen in FIG. 33, a similar error rate (i.e. less than 0.001) can beachieved with differently selected harmonic mean thresholds. As can alsobe seen, substantially low error rates can be achieved using the multitransmitter arrangements disclosed.

FIG. 34 shows a contour plot of the calculated harmonic mean value overan area adjacent an entry/exit point using a simulation of a triangularspaced configuration of transmitters 1610. In particular, one of thetransmitters 1610 of the four transmitter configuration has been turnedoff and the harmonic mean value has been calculated over the region. Ascan be seen from the contour plot of FIG. 34, a transmitter arrangementincluding three transmitters 1610 arranged in a triangular configurationcan be used if an appropriately selected harmonic mean threshold is usedto define a clear boundary for the detection area.

FIG. 35 shows a contour plot of the calculated geometric mean value overthe same area adjacent an entry/exit point using the same simulatedquadrilateral spaced configuration of transmitters 1610 as used for FIG.21. When the contour plots of FIGS. 35 and 21 are compared, it can beseen that the geometric mean can also be calculated by the mobilecommunication device 310 and that the mean threshold can be set to anappropriate geometric mean threshold to thereby define a boundary of thedetection area. However, it will be appreciated from a comparison ofFIGS. 21 and 35 that it has been found more preferable to use theharmonic mean value.

It will be appreciated that the transmitter arrangements 1610 forenabling the mobile communication device 310 to automatically determinethat it's location is within a defined detection area are highlyadvantageous. In particular, due to the use of a mean RSSI thresholdeffectively defining a relatively contained detection area, it ispossible to locate multiple transmitter arrangement in an area. Forexample, a vehicular parking facility may have multiple entry and exitpoints located near each other. Utilising the above describedtechniques, the contained detection areas can be defined such as to notleak or overlap into adjacent areas such as a neighbouring pathway witha respective transmitter arrangement and detection area. This advantageis unique as it is highly difficult to achieve this level of accuracywith current implementations, such as the Apple iBeacon which does nothave the level of control regarding the defined regions which the mobilecommunication device will perform an automated action in response toreceiving a beacon signal.

In another variation, it is possible for the mobile communication device310 to determine a plurality of mean values for adjacent transmitters1610. For example, a first mean value can be determined for transmitters1615A and 1615B, and then a second mean value can be determined fortransmitters 1615C and 1615D. The mobile communication device 310 canthen determine a discrepancy value of the first and second mean values.The mobile communication device can then compare the discrepancy to adiscrepancy range stored in memory. In the event that the discrepancyfalls within the range, the mobile communication device 310 determinesthat the entry/exit request can be transferred accordingly. In anadditional or alternative form, a first diagonal transmitter pair meanvalue can be determined for transmitters 1615A and 1615D, and then asecond diagonal transmitter pair mean value can be determined fortransmitters 1615B and 1615C. The mobile communication device 310 canthen determine a diagonal pair discrepancy value of the first and seconddiagonal transmitter pair mean values. The mobile communication devicecan then compare the diagonal pair discrepancy value to a diagonal pairdiscrepancy range stored in memory. In the event that the diagonal pairdiscrepancy value falls within the range, the mobile communicationdevice 310 determines that the entry/exit request can be transferredaccordingly. Optionally, both discrepancy values must fall within therespective ranges in order for the entry/exit request to be transferred.

In a further variation, a time series of discrepancy values can be usedto determine a travel path through the detection area.

Referring to FIGS. 36 and 37 there is shown a further exampletransmitter arrangement 3800 for two entry points provided for two lanes3820A, 3820B for vehicles. Each entry point has an associated entrypoint assembly 304A, 304B. The transmitters 1610A, 1610B, 1610C, 1610Dutilise reflector antennas 1615A, 1615B, 1615C, 1615D as discussedabove. In this example, a signal processing technique can be performedby mobile communication device 310 in the left or right lane todetermine if an entry request should be transferred based on the signalsreceived from the four transmitters 1610A, 1610B, 1610C, 1610D. Inparticular, the mobile communication device 310 determines a mask valuebased on the received signal strength of the transmitter signals andthen determines a mean value of the received signal strength of thetransmitter signals, wherein the mean value has been masked by the maskvalue. The masked mean value can then be used to determine if one ormore criteria have been satisfied to indicate that the mobilecommunication device 310 is located in a detection area associated witha particular lane 3820A, 3820B, wherein distinct and different detectionareas 1630A, 1630B are defined within the common transmitting area 3810for the transmitters 1610A, 1610B, 1610C, 1610D.

More specifically, the masked mean value can be used to determinewhether the mobile communication device 310 for a vehicle is locatedwithin a left portion or a right portion of a perimeter 3810 defined bythe transmitters 1610A, 1610B, 1610C, 1610D transmitting across the twolanes 3820A, 3820B. Thus, instead of installing four transmitters pervehicular lane at each entry or exit point to define a detection areafor a single lane, the four transmitters 1610A, 1610B, 1610C, 1610D maybe shared for two neighbouring lanes 3820A, 3820B at two neighbouringentry/exit points, wherein the above signal processing using the maskvalue can be used by a mobile communication device 310 to determinewhether the mobile communication device is located in a left or rightlane. Therefore, in some circumstances only half the transmitters 1610may need to be installed for a particular entry or exit area wheremultiple lanes are provided. Furthermore, this arrangement of thetransmitters may be necessary in circumstances where there may bephysical constraints for installing transmitters 1610 betweenneighbouring vehicular lanes. As shown in FIG. 38A, the mobilecommunication device 310 would not be detected as being located ineither the left or right detection areas 1630A, 1630B. However, in FIG.38B as the vehicle associated with the mobile communication device 310approaches the entry point, the mobile communication device using theabove described signal processing technique determines that it islocated within the left detection area 1630A.

Referring to FIGS. 38 and 39 there is shown a flow chart representing amethod 3900 of performing the signal processing discussed in relation toFIGS. 36 and 37. Method 3800 will be described initially with referenceto the transmitter arrangement of FIG. 36 and FIG. 37 operating at entrypoints and then later operating at exit points. This transmitterarrangement can be used in relation to the system described in relationto FIG. 17A. It will be appreciated that the terms “left” and “right”are being used throughout the description of these examples for thepurposes of clarity, thus the examples are not limited to specific leftand right configurations and the terms “first” and “second” can beinterchanged for the terms “left” and “right” respectively throughoutthese examples for a more general example.

In particular, step 3802 of the method 3800 is performed in the samemanner of as step 1752.

As the user approaches an entry point of the vehicular parking facility,step 3804 of the method 3800 is performed in the same manner as step1754.

At step 3806, the method 3800 includes the mobile communication device310 determining a mean value indicative of the received signal strengthbased on the received entry transmitter signals. In one particular form,the mean value may be a harmonic mean value. Other mean values can bedetermined.

At step 3808, the method 3800 includes the mobile communication device310 determining a mean value indicative of the received signal strengthfor signals received from a left pair of the transmitters. In thetransmitter arrangement shown in FIGS. 36 and 37, this may betransmitters 1610A and 1610C. In one particular form, the mean value maybe a harmonic mean value. Other mean values can be determined.

At step 3810, the method 3800 includes the mobile communication device310 determining a mean value indicative of the received signal strengthfor signals received from a right pair of the transmitters. In thetransmitter arrangement shown in FIGS. 36 and 37, this may betransmitters 1610B and 1610D. In one particular form, the mean value maybe a harmonic mean value. Other mean values can be determined.

At step 3812, the method 3800 includes the mobile communication device310 determining left and right mask values based on the mean values forthe left and right pairs of transmitters. Specifically, each mask valueis determined as a value that ranges between 0 and 1. In a particularform, in the event that a left mask value is to be calculated for use indetermining if the mobile communication device is located in the leftlane as shown in FIGS. 36 and 37, Equation 2 below can be used:

$\begin{matrix}{{{mask}_{L}(i)} = {\frac{{10{\log_{10}\left( {mean}_{L} \right)}} - {10{\log_{10}\left( {mean}_{R} \right)}}}{0.5 \times {FBR}} + 0.5}} & {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 2}\end{matrix}$where:

-   -   mask_(L)(i) is the left mask value for a sample.    -   mean_(L)(i) is the mean value (mW) for a sample of the left        transmitters.    -   mean_(R)(i) is the mean value (mW) for a sample of the right        transmitters.    -   FBR is the front to back ratio (dB) for the antenna of the        transmitters.

In the event that a right mask value is to be calculated, Equation 3 canbe used as shown below:

$\begin{matrix}{{{mask}_{R}(i)} = {\frac{{10{\log_{10}\left( {{mean}_{R}(i)} \right)}} - {10{\log_{10}\left( {{mean}_{L}(i)} \right)}}}{0.5 \times {FBR}} + 0.5}} & {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 3}\end{matrix}$where:

-   -   mask_(R)(i) is the left mask value for a sample.

The ‘0.5’ which appears in the denominator of Equations 2 and 3 is usedto square the mask value such that there is a clear distinction betweenthe segments of the detection area. It will be appreciated that thisvalue is merely exemplary and that depending upon the circumstances thisvalue can be increased or decreased in order to more clearly define theboundary of the detection area. The value 0.5 which is added to theinitial portion of Equations 2 and 3 results in the mask value rangingbetween 0 and 1.

At step 3814, the method 3800 includes the mobile communication device310 determining a left and right masked mean value using the mean valueand the left and right mask values respectively. In one form, the maskedmean value may be expressed in dBm. Therefore, the left and right maskedmean values expressed in dBm may be calculated according to Equation 4and 5 respectively:mean_(L,masked)(i)=10 log₁₀(mean_(L,R)(i))×mean_(L)(i)  Equation 4mean_(R,masked)(i)=10 log₁₀(mean_(L,R)(i))×mean_(R)(i)  Equation 5where:

-   -   mean_(L,masked)(i) is the left masked mean value for a sample.    -   mean_(R,masked)(i) is the right masked mean value for a sample.    -   mean_(L,R)(i) is the mean value (mW) for a sample received from        the left and right transmitters.

At step 3816, the method 3800 includes the mobile communication device310 using the left and right masked mean values to determine if one ormore criteria have been satisfied to indicate that mobile communicationdevice 310 is located within a left or right detection area. Forexample, the left masked mean value may be compared to a left lanethreshold to determine if the mobile communication device 310 is locatedin the detection area 1630A associated with the left lane. Morespecifically, in the event that the left masked mean value is greaterthan the threshold stored in memory of the mobile communication device310, the mobile communication device 310 determines that the mobilecommunication device 310 is located in the detection area 1630A for theleft lane. Similarly, the right masked mean value may be compared by themobile communication device 310 to a right lane threshold stored inmemory of the mobile communication device 310 to determine if the mobilecommunication device 310 is located in the detection area associatedwith the right lane. More specifically, in the event that the rightmasked mean value is greater than the threshold, the mobilecommunication device 310 determines that the mobile communication device310 is located in the detection area 1630B for the right lane.

In the event that the left or right masked mean values satisfy (i.e.greater than or equal to) the respective threshold defining therespective left or right detection areas 1630A, 1630B, the method 3900continues to proceed to step 3845. Otherwise, in the event that both theleft and right masked mean values do not satisfy (i.e. less than orequal to) the respective thresholds, the method 3900 proceeds back tostep 3804 whilst the entity associated with the mobile communicationdevice 310 continues to approach an entry point 1630.

At step 3818, the method 3800 includes the mobile communication device310 generating and transferring, to an entry point microcontroller 338associated with the respective lane for the vehicle and viacommunication device 336, an entry request in response to one of themasked mean values satisfying the threshold. In a preferable form, theentry request is generated and transferred in an automated mannerwithout user intervention (i.e. without the user holding the mobilecommunication device and without operating the mobile communicationdevice).

Step 3820 of the method 3800 is performed the same as step 1760.

Step 3822 of the method 3800 is performed the same as step 1762.

Step 3824 of the method 3800 is performed the same as step 1764.

At step 3826 of the method 3800 is performed the same as step 1766.

The following steps of method 3800 will now be described based on thetransmitter arrangement shown in FIGS. 36 and 37 operating at exitpoints.

As the user approaches an exit point of the vehicular parking facility,step 3828 of the method 3800 is performed the same as step 1768.

At step 3830, the method 3800 includes the mobile communication device310 determining a mean value indicative of the received signal strengthbased on the received exit transmitter signals. In one particular form,the mean value may be a harmonic mean value. Other mean values can bedetermined.

At step 3832, the method 3800 includes the mobile communication device310 determining a mean value indicative of the received signal strengthfor signals received from a left pair of the transmitters. In thetransmitter arrangement shown in FIGS. 36 and 37, this may betransmitters 1610A and 1610C. In one particular form, the mean value maybe a harmonic mean value. Other mean values can be determined.

At step 3834, the method 3800 includes the mobile communication device310 determining a mean value indicative of the received signal strengthfor signals received from a right pair of the transmitters. In thetransmitter arrangement shown in FIGS. 36 and 37, this may betransmitters 1610B and 1610D. In one particular form, the mean value maybe a harmonic mean value. Other mean values can be determined.

At step 3836, the method 3800 includes the mobile communication device310 determining left and right mask values based on the mean values forthe left and right pairs of transmitters 1610A and 1610C, 1610B and1610D. Specifically, each mask value is determined as a value thatranges between 0 and 1. In a particular form, in the event that a leftmask value is to be calculated for determining if the mobilecommunication device 310 is located in the left lane as shown in FIGS.36 and 37, Equation 2 can be used which is discussed above. In the eventthat a right mask value is to be calculated, Equation 3 can be used asdiscussed above.

At step 3838, the method 3800 includes determining a left and rightmasked mean value using the mean value and the left and right maskvalues respectively. In one form, the masked mean value may be expressedin dBm. Therefore, the left and right masked mean values expressed indBm may be calculated by the mobile communication device 310 accordingto Equation 4 and 5 discussed above.

At step 3840, the method 3800 includes the mobile communication device310 using the left and right masked mean values to determine if one ormore criteria have been satisfied to indicate that mobile communicationdevice 310 is located within a left or right detection area 1630A, 1630Bat the exit points. For example, the left masked mean value may becompared to a left lane threshold to determine if the mobilecommunication device 310 is located in the detection area associatedwith the left lane. More specifically, in the event that the left maskedmean value is greater than the threshold, the mobile communicationdevice 310 determines that the mobile communication device 310 islocated in the detection area 1630A for the left lane exit point.Similarly, the right masked mean value may be compared to a right lanethreshold to determine if the mobile communication device 310 is locatedin the detection area 1630B associated with the right lane. Morespecifically, in the event that the right masked mean value is greaterthan the threshold, the mobile communication device 310 determines thatthe mobile communication device 310 is located in the detection area1630B for the right lane exit point.

In the event that the left or right masked mean values satisfy (i.e.greater than or equal to) the respective threshold defining therespective left or right detection areas, the method 3800 continues toproceed to step 3842. Otherwise, in the event that both the left andright masked mean values do not satisfy (i.e. less than or equal to) therespective thresholds, the method 3800 proceeds back to step 3828 whilstthe entity associated with the mobile communication device 310 continuesto approach an entry point 1630.

At step 3842, the method 3800 includes the user's mobile communicationdevice 310 transferring an exit request indicative of the authorisationdata to the exit communication system 356 associated with the detectedlane in response to the respective mean value satisfying (i.e. greaterthan or equal to) the respective exit threshold. In a preferable form,the exit request is generated and transferred in an automated mannerwithout user intervention (i.e. without the user holding the mobilecommunication device and without operating with the mobile communicationdevice). The exit request is indicative of at least the authorisationdata in this example.

At step 3844, the method 3800 includes the communication device 356transferring the exit request to the access control processing system312 and the ticket reading machine 316. In particular, the exitcommunication device 356 of the exit point microcontroller 358 transfersthe exit request to the ticket reading machine 316 via the data cable338. The ticket-reading machine 316 then transfers the exit request tothe access control processing system 312 via the LAN.

Step 3846 of the method 3800 is performed the same as step 1774.

Step 3848 of the method 3800 is performed the same as step 1776.

It will be appreciated that received signal strength values may bescaled for method 3900. For example, scaling may be performed such thatthe magnitude of particular values can be expressed more advantageouslyfrom a memory management and processing speed point of view. Inparticular, RSSI values expressed in dBm may be offset by 100 dBm suchthat values expressed in Watts or milliwatts can be stored in datastructures such as an integer data structure or the like. In the eventthat the masked mean value is to be compared to a threshold value indBm, the masked mean value may be adjusted (such as subtracting −100dBm) or the threshold can be adjusted according to this scaling.Additionally or alternatively, due to the various positions which themobile communication device 310 may be located in a vehicle which mayaffect the reception experienced by the respective mobile communicationdevice, the method 3800 can be modified to apply entry and exit scalevalues to received signal strength values to determine whether themobile communication device 310 is located in a particular detectionarea associated with a particular lane.

Referring to FIGS. 40A, 40B and 40C there is shown three contour plotsbased on a simulation which illustrate the signal processing beingperformed for detecting whether a mobile communication device 310located within a vehicle is located in a left or right lane using thetransmitter layout shown in FIGS. 36 and 37. The contour plot of FIG.40A shows the mean harmonic value of the received signals from thetransmitters that is determined at various positions. The contour plotof 40B shows a left mask value for the left pair of transmittersdetermined at various positions. The contour plot of 40C shows themultiplication of the first contour plot (i.e. the mean value) and thesecond contour plot (the mask value) which results in the masked meanvalue at various positions. As can be seen in the third contour plot,the higher RSSI values are shown in the left portion of the commontransmitting area 3810 for the transmitters 1610. FIGS. 41 and 42 showthe RSSI values in the x and y axis for the third contour plot. Bysetting an appropriate threshold value, a detection area for the leftlane can be defined as shown in FIG. 43.

Referring to FIG. 44 there is shown an error rate comparison between thedesign discussed in relation to the transmitter arrangement discussed inrelation to FIGS. 16A and 16B compared to the transmitter arrangementdiscussed in relation to FIGS. 38A and 38B. As can be seen, thetransmitter arrangement of FIGS. 38A and 38B has a minimum error rate of0.13% (i.e. 99.87% success rate) which is a higher error rate than thetransmitter arrangement of FIGS. 16A and 16B (0.02% resulting in a99.98% success rate). However, given that the error rate is stillextremely small, the benefits in installing half (or approximately halfdepending upon the physical arrangement) the transmitters needed todetect whether a vehicle is located in a left lane or right lane may beconsidered more advantageous despite the slightly higher error rate.

It will be appreciated that if there are a large number of neighbouringentry or exit points, the above described alternate transmitterarrangement can be used, where a set of transmitters 1610 transmitacross two neighbouring lanes. Therefore, there may be a plurality ofsets of transmitters in such a configuration.

As discussed above, the mobile communication device 310 can receiveconfiguration data from the server processing system 340. The serverprocessing system 340 may be a cloud server. The configuration data caninclude data regarding the configuration of one or more communicationsystems 306 associated with one or more restricted areas. In particular,the configuration data can include unique device identities (such as auniversally unique identifier, MAC addresses, etc) for each entry andexit communication device and the associated identity of the restrictedarea (i.e. identity of the parking facility or the like), calibrationdata such as transmission characteristics of each entry and exitcommunication device and the side of a vehicle path each communicationdevice is located. The computer program 308 can configure the mobilecommunication device 310 to obtain updated configuration data from timeto time. The configuration data may be pushed to or pulled by the mobilecommunication device 310 from the cloud server 340. Therefore, in theevent that a particular communication system 306 is reconfigured therebyaltering the various transmission characteristics of the particularcommunication system 306 for a restricted area, the configuration datacan be altered at the cloud server 340, wherein each mobilecommunication device 310 obtains the altered configuration data in atimely manner (e.g. within 6 hours).

The systems described are advantageous as the mobile communicationdevice 310 transmits the entry/exit request using a short range wirelesscommunication network to the local communication system 306. Thus, theuser does not require Internet access to be able to enter or exit therestricted area. However, in a variation on these systems, the entryrequest and exit request can be alternatively transferred via a WAN,such as the Internet, to the server processing system 340 forprocessing. An example of this system arrangement 1502 is shown in FIG.15. It will be appreciated that some restricted areas (e.g. undergroundparking facilities) may not be appropriate for such a configuration.However, for areas which are appropriate where the mobile communicationdevice 310 is able to access the Internet using mobile communicationservices, the server processing system 340 can be configured to processthe received entry or exit request based on the data stored in the datastore 342 to determine the validity of the request. In response topositive validation, the server processing system 340 can transfer acommand to the access control processing system 312 of the accesscontrol system 1504 to actuate the respective entry/exit controlassembly 318, 320 (i.e. boom gate or the like) to allow the user toenter or exit the restricted area. In some instances the entry/exitcontrol assembly 318/320 may be more sophisticated and can receive datadirectly from the server processing system 340. The systems 1502 and1504 operate together to form system 1500.

It will be appreciated that whilst the previous examples have shown asingle server processing system 340, it is possible that a serverprocessing system may include a distributed server processing systemincluding multiple server processing systems.

It will be appreciated that whilst in previous examples the entry pointmicrocontroller 338 and the exit point microcontroller 358 are notdirectly connected to the access control processing system 312 (ratherindirectly via the ticket issuance machine 314 and the ticket readingmachine 316), it is possible for the system 300 to be modified such thatthe entry point microcontroller 338 and the exit point microcontroller358 can be configured to be connected directly to the access controlprocessing system 312 via a communication medium such as via a datacable (e.g. network cable) such that direct communication can take placebetween the respective processing systems.

In the examples described above, no user interaction with the mobilecommunication device 310 is required in order for the entry request orexit request to be generated and transferred. However, in particularvariations on these examples, the mobile communication device 310 may beconfigured by the computer program 308 to allow the user to interactwith a user interface of the computer program which is presented via thedisplay of the mobile communication device 310 in order to generate andtransfer the entry request or exit request. In certain examples,analysis of the received signal strength of the entry and exit signalsare unnecessary as the user simply interacts with the interface whenthey are about to enter or exit the restricted area. However, in otherexamples, the analysis of the received signal strength of the entry andexit signals can be used by the mobile communication device 310 toenable a portion of the interface which is normally disabled. Inparticular, prior to approaching the entry or exit point of therestricted area, a portion of the interface of the computer program 308,such as a button, is disabled. The mobile communication device 310 isconfigured by the computer program to analyse the received signalstrength as discussed above in prior examples. When the mobilecommunication device 310 determines that the one or more entry or exitcriteria have been satisfied, the computer program 308 enables thebutton of the interface such that the user can then select the button toinstruct the mobile communication device to generate and transfer theentry or exit request. This configuration reduces the risk that a userin a queue at the entry or exit point interacts with the computerprogram 308 to generate and transfer an entry or exit request whichactually allows a different user located ahead in the queue to enter orexit the restricted area.

In another example shown in FIG. 45, there is provided a system 4500which can include a mobile device 310, a plurality of receivers 4510(4510A, 4510B, 4510C, 4510D) and a processing system 4520. Each receiver4510 has associated therewith a reflector antenna 4530 (4530A, 4530B,4530C, 4530D). The mobile device 310 is configured to transmit a signalwhich is received by at least two receivers 4510. The receivers 4510which receive the signal communicate a received signal strength to theprocessing system 4520. The processing system 4520 determines based onthe received signal strengths for at least two of the receivers 4510whether the mobile device 310 is located within a detection area 1630.Similarly to previous examples, the processing system 4520 can determinea mean of the received signal strengths and then determine whethercriteria has been satisfied based on the mean value to indicate that themobile device 310 is located within the detection area 1630. As thereflector antennas 4530 act as a shield, some of the receivers 4510 willnot receive the signal transmitted by the mobile device 310 when themobile device 310 is located outside the detection area, or at least thereceived signal strength at these receivers 4510 will be low compared towhen the mobile device 310 is located within the detection area. Forexample, in FIG. 45, the reflector antennas 4530A and 4530B act as ashield for receivers 4510A, 4510B, thus the mean value is lower therebyallowing for the system to correctly determine that the mobile device310 is not located in the detection area 1630. Each receiver 4510 mayhave an associated receiver processing system 4515 to determine thereceived signal strength and communicate the received signal strength tothe processing system 4520.

This arrangement of receivers 4510 discussed in relation to FIG. 45 canbe substituted for the transmitter arrangement used in system 1700. Themobile communication device 310 of system 1700 can be reconfigured toperiodically transmit a signal, such as a Bluetooth signal, whenapproaching or within the detection area. The processing system 4520which determines the mean received signal strengths can be the entrypoint microcontroller 338 or exit point controller 358 of system 1700which receives the received signal strengths from the receiverprocessing systems 4515 that receive the signal transmitted by themobile device 310. The entry point microcontroller 338 or exit pointmicrocontroller 358 can then determine whether criteria has beensatisfied to indicate whether the mobile device 310 is located withinthe detection area 1630.

In examples where the monitoring system monitors a vehicle entering orexiting an area, the mobile device 310 may be part of the vehicle ratherthan a separate device, such as a smart phone, located within thevehicle. For example, the mobile device 310 may an on-board processingsystem of the vehicle. In certain embodiments of this example, thevehicle could be an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle.

It will be appreciated that for systems described in relation to FIGS.17 and 36, substantially simultaneous entry or exit requests may bereceived by the access control system 304 from multiple mobilecommunication device 310 located within the detection area. In thisregard, the entry request and the exit request generated by each mobilecommunication device can be indicative of one or more wireless deviceswhich the mobile communication device is currently connected thereto,wherein in the event that the communication system receives dataindicative of a plurality of substantially simultaneous entry or exitrequests received from multiple mobile communication devices, the one ormore connected wireless devices indicated by at least one of the entryrequest or exit request is used to at least partially determine whichentry or exit request from the plurality of substantially simultaneousentry or exit requests to process. For example, the entry or exitrequest from one of the mobile devices which is connected to ain-vehicle hands-free system may be accepted for processing and theremaining requests may be disregarded.

In an additional or alternate manner to address substantiallysimultaneous entry or exit requests being received by the access controlsystem 304, the mobile communication device 310 can determine, based onthe received signal strength of the received signals from thetransmitters 1610, which side or quadrant of the detection area themobile device 310 is positionally offset within the detection area. Eachentry or exit request can indicate the positional offset of the mobiledevice within the detection area. The access control system 304 can thenuse the positional offset of each mobile device to filter the entry orexit requests. For example, the access control system 304 may accept anentry or exit request from a mobile device 310 indicating a positionaloffset corresponding to a front right quadrant in the event that driversare conventionally located in the front right portion of the vehicle. Injurisdictions where the driver is located in the front left portion ofthe vehicle, the access control system 304 may accept an entry or exitrequest from a mobile device indicating a positional offsetcorresponding to a front left quadrant. Other entry or exit requestswhich were received substantially simultaneously can then be dismissed.

Many modifications within the scope of the invention will be appreciatedby those skilled in the art without department from the spirit of theinvention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system including: a plurality of transmitters,each transmitter having associated therewith a reflector antennaconfigured to substantially reflect signal transmission toward adetection area, wherein the reflector of at least some of the pluralityof transmitters face substantially toward each other to thereby defineat least some of the detection area located therebetween; and a mobiledevice configured to: receive transmitter signals from at least twotransmitters from the plurality of transmitters; and determine that themobile device is located within the detection area based on receivedsignal strengths of the at least some of the transmitter signals.
 2. Thesystem according to claim 1, wherein each reflector antenna is a cornerreflector antenna.
 3. The system according to claim 2, wherein therespective reflecting walls of each reflector antenna are walls of abollard housing the respective transmitter.
 4. The system according toclaim 3, wherein a dipole driven element of each transmitter is spacedfrom the corner reflector antenna by a spacing bracket mounted withinthe respective bollard.
 5. The system according to claim 3, wherein eachbollard includes a cutout section to enable transmission of therespective transmitter signal by the respective transmitter.
 6. Thesystem according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of transmittersincludes: two transmitters; three transmitters, wherein the plurality oftransmitters are spaced apart from each other in a triangularconfigurations; or four transmitters, wherein the plurality oftransmitters are spaced apart from each other in a quadrilateralconfigurations.
 7. The system according to claim 1, wherein theplurality of transmitters are Bluetooth devices.
 8. The system accordingto claim 1, wherein the determination that the mobile device is locatedwithin the detection area is based on a mean value of the receivedsignal strengths.
 9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the meanvalue is one of: a harmonic mean value; and a geometric mean value. 10.The system according to claim 8, wherein the mobile device is configuredto determine a mask value using the received signal strengths for theleast some of the transmitters, wherein the mobile device uses the meanvalue and the mask value to determine if the mobile device is located inone of a plurality of detection areas associated with the plurality oftransmitters.
 11. The system according to claim 8, wherein the mobiledevice is configured to: determine a first mask value based on adiscrepancy between a first mean value of the received signal strengthfor signals received from a first pair of the transmitters of theplurality of transmitters and a second mean value of the received signalstrength for signals received from a second pair of the transmitters ofthe plurality of transmitters; determine a second mask value based on adiscrepancy between the second mean value the first mean value;determine if the mobile device is located in a first detection area inthe event that one or more first criteria are satisfied based on maskingthe mean value using the first mask value; and determine if the mobiledevice is located in a second detection area in the event that one ormore second criteria are satisfied based on masking the mean value usingthe second mask value.
 12. The system according to claim 8, wherein themobile device is configured to determine that the mobile device islocated within the detection area in response to the mobile devicedetermining that the mean value of the received signal strengths isgreater than or equal to a signal strength threshold over a thresholdperiod of time.
 13. The system according to claim 8, wherein the mobiledevice is configured to determine that the mobile device is locatedwithin the detection area in response to the mobile device determiningthat the mean value of the received signal strengths is greater than orequal to a first signal strength threshold over a threshold period oftime starting when the mean value of the received signal strengths isgreater than a second signal strength threshold, wherein the secondsignal strength threshold is greater than the first signal strengththreshold.
 14. The system according to claim 1, wherein the mobiledevice is configured to transfer data indicative of the determinationthat the mobile device is within the detection area to a monitoringsystem.
 15. The system according to claim 14, wherein the monitoringsystem includes a controller with an associated communication device,wherein the data indicative of the determination is an access requestgenerated and transferred by the mobile device which is received by thecontroller via the communication device, wherein the controller isconfigured to facilitate, based on the request, instructing an accesscontrol system to allow the entity to travel through an entry or exitpoint.
 16. The system according to claim 15, wherein the entry or exitpoints are associated with a vehicular parking facility.
 17. The systemaccording to claim 16, wherein at least one of the entry request and theexit request generated by the mobile communication device is indicativeof one or more wireless devices which the mobile communication device iscurrently connected thereto, wherein in the event that the controllerreceives data indicative of a plurality of substantially simultaneousentry or exit requests received from multiple mobile communicationdevices, the one or more connected wireless devices indicated by atleast one of the entry request or exit request is used to at leastpartially determine which entry or exit request from the plurality ofsubstantially simultaneous entry or exit requests to process.
 18. Thesystem according to claim 16, wherein the mobile communication device isconfigured to determine, using the received signal strengths of the atleast some of the transmitter signals, a positional offset of the mobiledevice within the detection area, wherein at least one of the entry orexit request is indicative of a positional offset of the mobile devicewithin the detection area, wherein in the event that the controllerreceives data indicative of a plurality of substantially simultaneousentry or exit requests received from multiple mobile communicationdevices, the positional offset indicated by at least one of the entryrequest or exit request is used to at least partially determine whichentry or exit request from the plurality of substantially simultaneousentry or exit requests to process.
 19. The system according to claim 1,wherein the mobile device is an on-board processing system of a vehicle.20. A method including: transmitting, from a plurality of transmitters,transmitter signals, wherein each transmitter has associated therewith areflector antenna configured to substantially reflect signaltransmission toward a detection area, wherein the reflector of at leastsome of the plurality of transmitters face substantially toward eachother thereby defining at least some of the detection area locatedtherebetween; and determining, at a mobile device, that the mobiledevice is located within the detection area based on received signalstrengths of at least two transmitter signals of the plurality oftransmitter signals.
 21. The method according to claim 20, wherein themobile device is an on-board processing system of a vehicle.
 22. Asystem including: a plurality of transmitters, each transmitter havingassociated therewith a reflector antenna configured to substantiallyreflect signal transmission toward a detection area, wherein thereflector of at least some of the plurality of transmitters facesubstantially toward each other to thereby define at least some of thedetection area located therebetween; and a non-transitory computerreadable medium including a computer program executable by a mobiledevice, wherein execution of the computer program configures the mobiledevice to: receive transmitter signals from at least two transmittersfrom the plurality of transmitters; and determine that the mobile deviceis located within the detection area based on received signal strengthsof the at least some of the transmitter signals.
 23. The systemaccording to claim 22, wherein the mobile device is an on-boardprocessing system of a vehicle.